In this huge battle of the two who’s really winning? We’ll be talking about all of it in this business report. TamilYogi Intelligence BI is Here, Let’s Unpack.
The Big Clash
Two such big movies released side by side, obviously there is a lot to analyse, lots of things to compare. Honestly I’ve been rambling on with this for half an hour now, going over every little bit. I don’t know whether you’ll watch it or not, but let’s look at only the most important aspects.
Since we are mainly covering Tamil movies here but we’ll be only looking at the Hindi collection of the War 2. You’ll see later why I’ve had to make this point. But first, tell me, how am I going to be excited for this business report? If you are excited, give me a thumbs up.
War 2’s Box Office Performance
War 2 released on Thursday 14th August (not a holiday), and its Hindi net collected on Day 1 was 29 crores. From any point of view, that’s not too impressive, given that it’s part of a cinematic universe, plus War 1 was so popularly received and made so much money. A lot of time has passed since then, people watched it on the TV, maybe watch it again. Here we have Hrithik Roshan vs Jr NTR, two of the biggest superstars of India. Still, ₹29 crore is quite low.
For a comparison, Hrithik’s last movie Fighter opened at the sum of 22 crore. Meanwhile, War 1 (released on 2nd October, a national holiday) had opened with 52crores on Day 1. So when War 2 reported an earning of only 23 crores on its Day 2 (a normal working Thursday), it looked underwhelming.
But on a holiday like Friday 15th August it did career best so far, and it did an impressive ₹44 crore. That’s the peak. After that, numbers fell. Saturday dropped 41% to ₹26 crore. Sunday? No growth at all, again ₹26 crore. Imagine, its first Sunday was actually lower than its already underperforming Day 1.
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So, the Hindi opening weekend (4 days) is at a price of ₹125 crores. That’s just ₹7 crore above Fighter’s aerofoil at the price of ₹118 crore. But per day numbers show the Fighter did do better on Saturday and Sunday than the War 2. Even War 1’s first Sat-Sun’s were higher (Rs.27 crore and Rs.36 crore).
This clearly gives a glimpse of the audience perception by the first weekend. I had even predicted a month ago that YRF’s own Saiyaara could win over War 2 and guess what, the first Sunday for War 2 was under ₹26 crore whereas for Saiyaara it was under ₹36 crore.
Projections & Warnings
By Monday if War 2 doesn’t at least touch around Rs 18-20 crore (after Sunday’s Rs 26 crore) then there’s a big chance it won’t touch Rs 300 crore lifetime. It may be having a hard time even crossing the mark of 280 crore. From Fighter’s movement, War 2 could end at about approx. rs 225 crore in Hindi net. If so, it will be YRF Spy Universe’s second lowest grosser only after Ek Tha Tiger (₹200 crore in 2012).
Even Tiger 3 (Diwali 2023) made a profit of Rs 280 crores in spite of clashing with Coolie. So War 2 is in trouble. Still, it has some hope as there is no major movie being released for two weeks.
Coolie vs War 2 Head-to-Head (India Collections)
Day 1 (14 Aug):
- Coolie – ₹65 crore (all languages India net)
- War 2 – ₹52 crore (all languages India net)
Day 2 (15 Aug holiday):
- Coolie – ₹55 crore
- War 2 – ₹57 crore (yes, War 2 edged ahead)
Day 3 (Sat):
- Coolie – ₹39.5 crore
- War 2 – ₹33 crore
Day 4 (Sun):
- Coolie – ₹34 crore
- War 2 – ₹31 crore
4-day India net total:
- Coolie – ₹193 crore
- War 2 – ₹173 crore (₹20 crore behind)
But note: in the case of Coolie’s 193 crore, Hindi only contributed ₹20 lakhs crore. Majority came from Tamil. War 2’s ₹173 crores had near Rs 47 crores from Telugu (thanks to Jr NTR) with the remainder coming mostly from Hindi.
Why This Difference Matters
South Indian films have the propensity of opening huge and collecting most of the money by the first weekend (due to smaller population but huge marketing and front loading). Hindi films are able to run longer if they are accepted by the audience. That’s why War 2 still has a chance to catch up, if it holds firm in weekdays.
Coolies if stabilises like Vijay’s Leo or Jr NTR’s Devara could go 350-370 crore India net. War 2 might have difficulty getting over 225 – 250 unless the word of mouth takes off.
Worldwide Collections (Bigger Picture)
Coolie has already made records in the international range.
Day 1 worldwide:
- Coolie – ₹151–153 crore gross (highest ever Tamil opening, 7th biggest Indian movie opening all time)
- War 2 – ₹85 crore gross
Day 2:
- Coolie – ₹245 crore gross
- War 2 – ₹165 crore gross
Day 3:
- Coolie – ₹320 crore gross
- War 2 – ₹215 crore gross
Day 4 (estimates):
- Coolie – ₹375 crore gross
- War 2 – ₹268 crore gross
Already that’s a gap of more than 100 crore worldwide. Coolie has become the 10th largest Tamil movie ever in the world, which will soon enter into the Top 5 (may even overpower Vikram).
Final Fun Fact
There’s an 80-85% probability, both War 2 and Coolie will remain below Saiyaara’s lifetime collections (INR 330 crores net, ₹555 crores globally).
We’ll know more next week once weekday numbers come in. If you enjoyed this analysis, visit again. Take care of your health. See you in the next one. Tata!