Jailer 2 Box Office: 80 Percent Morning Shows for Rajinikanth

Rajinikanth's Jailer 2 opened in theatres worldwide on Thursday, and the morning numbers show a star release doing what star releases do in India. The Tamil version filled 80 percent of morning-show seats, according to Chennai trade tracker Ramesh Bala, reported by Variety India. The Telugu version stood at 60 percent and the Hindi version at 25 percent.

Variety India reported the film had collected Rs 18.71 crore on its opening day at the time of its report, with Rs 15.37 crore of that from Tamil, and Kochi and Bengaluru leading occupancy outside Tamil-speaking cities. On that trend, the report said the film was targeting more than Rs 80 crore for its first day.

In Kerala, trade tracker Jerin Georgekutty reported by Filmibeat's live blog said the day-one gross crossed Rs 10.30 crore by 2 p.m., with theatres adding evening and late-night shows, including in rural areas. Filmibeat noted those figures are trade estimates and have not been independently verified.

Fans turned screenings into festivals

The Daily Jagran reported fans dancing, offering prayers, garlanding tall cutouts and setting off firecrackers outside theatres in Chennai and Bengaluru, with full early shows also reported in Dubai, Singapore, Japan, the United States and Canada. Jailer 2 is the first Rajinikanth film to open in India and Japan on the same day, the report said.

Advance sales set the stage. Bollywood Hungama reported 14.15 lakh tickets sold for day one by the afternoon of October 14, and 39,485 tickets for the Hindi version, titled Rajini: The Jailer 2, despite that version not playing in the national multiplex chains.

The film and the cast

Directed by Nelson Dilipkumar and produced by Sun Pictures, Jailer 2 is the sequel to the 2023 hit Jailer. Rajinikanth returns as Tiger Muthuvel Pandian. Ramya Krishnan, Yogi Babu, Mirnaa and Rithvik return, with S. J. Suryah, Mithun Chakraborty, Suraj Venjaramoodu, Vidya Balan, Anna Rajan and Jatin Sarna joining. Mohanlal, Shiva Rajkumar and Jackie Shroff return in cameos, with Hrithik Roshan joining them. Music is by Anirudh Ravichander.

The first day total will firm up overnight as more shows report. The test after that is word of mouth through the weekend.