Coolie Day 1 box office: Rajinikanth delivers blockbuster opening with Rs 1.7 billion worldwide

When Rajinikanth steps on screen, the crowd goes wild, and Coolie’s opening day proves it yet again. His latest action spectacle, directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj, raked in Rs 65 crore net in India on day one, according to Sacnilk, making it the superstar’s biggest domestic opening ever. Trade analyst Ramesh Bala reported that the film grossed Rs 170 crore worldwide.

Coolie has already outperformed two of his previous Lokesh Cinematic Universe films: Kaithi (Rs 6.4 crore opening) and the Kamal Haasan-starrer Vikram (Rs 37.5 crore). The only Lokesh film it hasn’t surpassed is Leo, which opened to Rs 76.2 crore in 2023 and went on to gross Rs 341 crore. Even so, Coolie has outshone many of Rajinikanth’s earlier releases.

Notable past openings include TJ Gnanavel’s Vettaiyan (Rs 31.5 crore), Nelson Dilipkumar’s Jailer (Rs 48.35 crore), Karthik Subbaraj’s Petta (Rs 14 crore), and S Shankar’s 2.0 (Rs 23 crore).

It still remains impressive, as the film was also leaked online: Both HD and low-resolution copies of the movie hit piracy sites. However, fans continued urging the public to watch the film in theatres.

Coolie set a new benchmark, and it raced ahead of big pan-India release: Ayan Mukerji’s War 2, starring Hrithik Roshan, Jr NTR, and Kiara Advani. Despite the hype, War 2 opened to mixed reviews and collected Rs 52 crore on day one, falling behind Coolie.

Coolie has an ensemble cast including Aamir Khan, Nagarjuna Akkineni, Upendra Rao, Shruti Haasan, and Soubin Shahir. The story follows Deva, a former gold smuggler on a high-stakes mission to reclaim lost power through stolen technology hidden in vintage golden watches — a journey that quickly turns dangerous, thrilling, and absolutely cinematic.