Jailer 2 first week: ₹580 crore, and Allu Arjun is a fan

Jailer 2 finished its first week with about ₹317 crore net in India and roughly ₹582 crore worldwide, according to trade tracker Sacnilk, and Sun Pictures has started calling it an industry blockbuster. The sequel opened on October 15, so it got there in seven days.

Wednesday brought the first real dip. The film made about ₹28.15 crore net in India that day, nearly 40 per cent below Tuesday’s ₹46.80 crore, with the Dussehra holiday behind it. The language split was the same story as before: ₹18.50 crore in Tamil at around 45 per cent occupancy, ₹6 crore in Telugu at a similar rate, ₹3 crore in Hindi from more than 5,000 shows at 16 per cent, and ₹65 lakh in Kannada. Overseas has added about ₹211 crore, and the film is reported to have crossed ₹54 crore in the United States alone.

The scoreboard it is now chasing is all Rajinikanth and Vijay. The first Jailer finished at about ₹605 crore, and Leo at about ₹620 crore. Above both sits Rajinikanth’s own 2.0, at roughly ₹700 crore, still the highest-grossing Tamil film. All of these are trade estimates rather than audited figures, but on the current pace Jailer 2 should pass the first two in its second week. 2.0 is the real test. As we noted at the six-day mark, the Hindi version is not pulling its weight, and that is the market a Tamil film usually leans on for the last stretch.

Allu Arjun is the latest star to post about it on X. “A true showcase of Rajinikanth sir’s star power, swag & aura! A Commercial Entertainer that keeps the adrenaline pumping!” he wrote, before turning to the composer: “Brother… Anirudh KILLED IT!” He finished with the director. “All the artists, technicians & the producer have poured their hearts into this film. The Showman Nelson garu delivers the coolest hit with a BANG!”

The praise also comes with a working relationship attached. Allu Arjun grew up in Chennai, calls himself a Chennai boy and has talked about catching Rajinikanth’s first-day shows, but he is also in the middle of Atlee’s Raaka, a sci-fi action film for the same Sun Pictures. Dhanush, Sivakarthikeyan, Karthik Subbaraj and RJ Balaji had already posted their own praise.