Coolie has turned out to be a double treat for actor Rajinikanth and filmmaker Lokesh Kanagaraj as it has given them their career-best opening day collections, surpassing the first day collections of Lokesh's own 2023 film Leo, starring Vijay. Mounted on an ensemble star cast consisting of stalwarts from across India, Coolie had earned around Rs 78 crore gross across India (Rs 65 crore India net collection) and over Rs 151 crore worldwide, thanks to its overseas collections of $8.75 million that amped up its current numbers.
Pitted against Yash Raj Films' War 2 with Hrithik Roshan and Junior NTR which too was released amid massive aniticipation, Coolie emerged as a clear winner in the clash by a difference of a little over Rs 10 crore.
Vijay's Leo, partially inspired by A History of Violence, saw Vijay playing Parthiban and Leo characters. Upon release in October 2023, the film, similar to Coolie, smashed all existing box office records to earn over Rs 148.5 crore on its first day (Rs 76 crore from India). By a mere Rs 3 crore margin, Coolie has taken over the baton from Leo in two years. It is only the third Tamil film in history to open with more than 100 crore globally.
Coolie had surpassed the first day collections of Karthi's Kaithi (Rs 6.4 crore) and Kamal Haasan's Vikram (Rs 37.5 crore) and also Rajinikanth's previous films, including TJ Gnanavel’s Vettaiyan (Rs 31.5 crore), Nelson Dilipkumar’s Jailer (Rs 48.35 crore), Karthik Subbaraj’s Petta (Rs 14 crore), and Shankar’s 2.0 (Rs 23 crore).
Leo's pre-release hype resulted from it being a part of Lokesh Kanagaraj's famous Lokesh Cinematic Universe which consisted of Kaithi and Vikram. It revolved around Parthiban, a humble man living in Kashmir who is pursued by gangsters Antony and Harold Das who suspect him to be Antony's son Leo, previously presumed to be dead. Despite mixed reviews from audiences and critics, the film went on to become a box office hit, earning over Rs 500 crore worldwide and emerging as the second highest-grossing Tamil film of that year.
It also starred Sanjay Dutt, Arjun, Trisha, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Mysskin, Madonna Sebastian, George Maryan, Mansoor Ali Khan, Priya Anand and Mathew Thomas in prominent roles. Plans for Leo 2 are not currently moving forward as Vijay is moving away from films to focus on his political career. However, works for Kaithi 2, under Lokesh's direction and Benz, another LCU film, helmed by Bakkiyaraj Kannan is in works.
Meanwhile, Coolie continues to hold onto its winning streak by earning Rs 54.75 across India, taking its countrywide total to over Rs 120 crore. The film stars Nagarjuna, Upendra, Sathyaraj, Sathyaraj, Shruti Haasan, and Soubin Shahir, among others. Aamir Khan and Pooja Hegde play cameo roles in the film.