Rajinikanth has done it again. Producer Kalanithi Maran’s Sun Pictures announced on Thursday that Jailer 2 has crossed ₹549 crore at the worldwide box office in just seven days, hailing the superstar as “The Box Office Emperor” — and confirming the sequel as the highest-grossing Tamil film of all time in first-week collections.
Independent trade trackers put the figure even higher, with estimates of ₹575–582 crore worldwide after day seven, including ₹317 crore net in India — enough to enter the ₹300-crore club within a week, one of the fastest Indian films ever to do so. Overseas, the film has overtaken Thalapathy Vijay’s Leo to become the biggest Tamil grosser internationally, while in Kerala it is already the biggest Tamil film of all time. Tamil Nadu alone has contributed over ₹150 crore in the first week.
Remarkably, the run has come despite mixed reviews — several critics found the second half weaker than the first — and a low-key publicity campaign with no breakout chartbuster to fuel pre-release buzz. The Telugu version has grossed nearly ₹68 crore in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, almost matching the lifetime regional total of Rajinikanth’s previous release, Coolie.
The next milestone is the big one: the all-time Tamil record, currently held by Rajinikanth’s own 2.0. Directed by Nelson Dilipkumar, the sequel to 2023’s Jailer released on October 15 in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi and Kannada — and at this pace, history may be rewritten within days.
