Rajinkanth’s ‘Coolie’ outshines Hrithik Roshan and Jr NTR’s ‘War 2’ even in third week despite collection drops

The box office battle between Rajinikanth and Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Coolie along with Hrithik Roshan and Jr. NTR’s War 2 was one of the most closely followed clashes of the year. But both films fell short of expectations. War 2 has managed Rs 4.95 crore in this third week with Friday minting Rs 65 lakh and Saturday and Sunday coming in with Rs 1.15 crore and Rs 1.45 crore respectively.However, the weekdays saw sharp declines, with Rs 40 lakh on Monday, Rs55 lakh on Tuesday, Rs 40 lakh again on Wednesday and Rs 35 lakh on Thursday, thus marking it’s lowest every daily collection. On the other hand, Coolie delivered a much stronger third week with an estimated Rs 12.50 crore, nearly three times the business of War 2. The Rajinikanth and Nagarjuna starrer earned Rs 1.70 crore on Friday, Rs 2.80 crore on Saturday, and Rs 3.10 crore on Sunday. On weekdays the collections were expected to drop but it maintained a daily average of Rs 1 crore, with Monday collecting Rs 1.05 crore, Rs 1.30 crore on Tuesday, Rs 1.15 crore on Wednesday, and Rs 1.40 crore on Thursday. War 2 which despite the presence of Jr NTR it’s major engine has been the Hindi version and in case of Coolie it has a complete Rajinikanth pull in Tamil speaking audiences. While both films are facing a serious drop in its collection, War 2’s drop has been far more concerning than Coolie’s. War 2 was expected to be the torchbearer and Bollywood’s play for a PAN- India film but the gamble didn't play out well. Whereas Coolie also had presence of stars from other industries like Aamir Khan from Hindi Cinema or Nagarjuna from Telugu Cinema but it never let the focus shift from the main attraction of the film which was Rajinikanth and served his loyal fan base.