‘War 2’, ‘Coolie’ Score Big, Rank Among Global Top Ten

Two Indian films – ‘War 2’ and ‘Coolie’ rank among top-scoring films worldwide in their debut weekend.

Sun Pictures/Yash Raj Films

Two Indian films made it to the top ten grossers of the weekend worldwide. The Hindi film War 2 and the Tamil film Coolie scored big over their first weekend to rank among top films worldwide as per Comscore. The Hindi film featuring Hrithik Roshan and NTR Junior in the lead roles, scored $31.5 million at the global box office. The Tamil film, on the other hand, is an entertainer headlined by the Indian star Rajnikanth and grossed $45.3 million in its opening weekend.

Coolie is 4th highest-scoring film worldwide, War 2 ranks at seventh

Directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj, Coolie – The Powerhouse is way ahead of the other Indian release (War 2) at the box office over the first four days. Coolie emerged as the fourth highest-grossing film worldwide for the weekend ending August 17, scoring $10 million more than War 2 at the global ticket windows. War 2 made it to the seventh slot on the list by Comscore. Both films benefitted from an extended weekend, and a festive one in India. India celebrated Independence Day on August 15, and it was a holiday on August 16 as well – on the occasion of the festival Janamashtami (celebrated to mark the birth of Hindu God Krishna).

Indian box office report: Coolie The Powerhouse stays ahead of War 2

Coolie set the cash registers ringing even before the release of the film. It earned around $6 million in advance ticket bookings. On August 14, Thursday, the Tamil film made an opening collection of nearly $18 million worldwide. In India, it grossed $8.9 million on the first day. The film earned more than $3 million in the US markets and nearly $200,000 in the UK on its opening day, according to producers Sun Pictures.

With mostly positive responses from critics as well as the audience, Coolie saw an upward trend over the weekend. On Friday, the film doubled the scores and earned $16.2 million India and $28 million worldwide in two days. The film wrapped its first weekend at $45.3 million worldwide. In the US markets, the film earned $2.3 million over the weekend and became the tenth highest grossing film for the weekend.

The Tamil version of Coolie was the biggest contributor to the box office collection. The Tamil version alone scored $5 million in India on day one. By the end of the third day at the ticket windows, the Tamil version grossed $12 million in India. It was followed by the Telugu version which opened with nearly $2 million in the Indian markets while the Hindi version made half a million dollars on the first day in India. By the end of Saturday, the Telugu version scored $4.4 million and the Hindi version earned $1.8 million in India.

By the end of its three days at the box office, Coolie – The Powerhouse toppled Akshay Kumar-starrer Housefull 5 to become the third highest grossing film of the year 2025. Vicky Kaushal’ Chhaava remains the top-grossing film of the year and Saiyaara is the second one on the list by IMDb.

Rajinikanth features in the lead role of a coolie in the film which also stars Nagarjuna Akkineni, Sathyaraj, Upendra and Shruti Haasan. Bollywood star Aamir Khan has a guest appearance in the film. Made on an estimated budget of $45 million, Coolie is produced by Sun Pictures. Kanagaraj co-wrote the film with Chandhru Anbazhagan.

War 2

Directed Ayan Mukerji (Brahmastra Part One), War 2 released on August 14 amid much publicity and hype. However, the hype did not match that of Rajinikanth-starrer Coolie which also hit theatres the same day. The film made an opening collection of $7.5 million in India and $10 million worldwide. Globally, the film scored $31.5 million by the end of the first extended weekend. War 2 collected $1.7 million in the US markets and was the eleventh top-grosser over the weekend ending August 17.

Originally shot in Hindi, War 2 released with visual dubbing in Telugu. The visual dubbing was done by Mandar Netkar’s Neural Garage. In a social media post, Natekar called it “the beginning of a reimagined content ecosystem” with the union of technology and storytelling.

Yash Raj Films’ spy universe features films on fictional spies working for the Indian intelligence agency, Research and Analysis Wing (R&AW). Salman Khan-starrer Ek Tha Tiger was the first film which released in 2012 and has had two films in the franchise – Tiger Zinda Hai (2017) and Tiger 3 (2023). Hrithik Roshan and Tiger Shroff starred in War. After the 2019 film War wrote new box office success legends, Yash Raj Films established the spy universe. The first film to hit theatres after the spy universe announcement was Pathaan (2023) which was headlined by Shah Rukh Khan. War 2 is a sequel to War and the sixth film in the spy universe of Yash Raj Films.

Roshan reprises his role of a spy, Kabir, in War 2 which features NTR in a parallel role. Ashutosh Rana, Kiara Advani, and Anil Kapoor also play important roles. War 2 also stars Varun Badola and KC Shankar.