War 2 Hype vs Rajinikanth’s Coolie | The Clash Winner at Box Office ?

August 2025 will be all about Coolie vs War 2 at Box Office and the Independence Day Weekend will be massive for Indian cinema with exhibitors and distributors rejoicing after a not-so-lucrative period at the box office pan India.

The industry has seen a lot of commentary around Hrithik Roshan and NTR’s War 2 vs Rajinikanth’s Coolie. Inside Box Office (IBO) just as always will give you a clear overview of the on ground scenario and what will the War 2 vs Coolie Box Office Battle outcome be. All this will be purely on the film industry dynamics and not based on some social media hype.

The Assets of War 2 and the promotional material of Coolie

Whenever the Hrithik Roshan vs Rajinikanth movie clash is discussed, the quality of assets are always discussed. In our War 2 Official Teaser Review, we had clearly mentioned that the assets are underwhelming. The posters look AI generated and the Teaser has a not so impactful opponent in the form of NTR that too opposite Hrithik Roshan just doesn’t work. And in fact, War 2 Official Poster is just one in number. The prequel War (2019) had multiple posters released that were outstanding and that was helmed by Siddharth Anand who himself is a monster when it comes to crafting such stylish films and the marketing material.

On the other hand, Coolie had a blockbuster announcement video with Music Director Anirudh’s Disco sound as the background score. Later, the character posters were revealed and there was a song named Powerhouse that is hugely popular due to the Coolie in 100 Days Video Asset. Social media is flooded with edits made with the same template and Lokesh Kanagaraj is a beast when it comes to the marketing material.

Clash Over War 2 vs Coolie Hype ? As far as the assets are concerned, Coolie wins it due to stunning music, multiple character posters and countdown videos.

The IMAX battle between Coolie and War 2

This doesn’t make sense at all because the highest grosser in India is Oppenheimer with an IMAX Gross of $6.16M which is about ₹ 52 crore. This is because Nolan is a brand. On the other hand, the highest grossing Indian film based on India Gross is KGF Chapter 2 which is around ₹ 15 crore and hence in India it does not matter. Globally, only the weekend might be affected as the contract is valid for the opening weekend and later it’s about Demand and Supply.

Imax screening capacity has increased in the last few years but even then the gross will not be that huge and hence this is just a marketing gimmick. If it costed Coolie or War 2 a ₹ 100 crore at the box office then it was a different thing but it will hardly matter so this is just an irrelevant concern.

Is War 2 vs Coolie really a movie clash ?

If you look at this at an All India level, both the films, collectively, are a jackpot for the stakeholders of the Indian film industry because the films target different set of markets.

You have to understand that Coolie is one such film that is made only for the Tamil market only. So even if it does zero business outside its traditional markets, it can still become a huge grosser. In other words, it does not other markets. And it is a guarantee that the business will be better than War 2 in Tamil Nadu, Kerala etc and in overseas territories such as Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Saudi Arabia, UAE and all of Gulf.

War 2 will lead in North India as it has the franchise value and face value of Hrithik Roshan coupled with Jr NTR presence who has good following in regions like Odisha, East Punjab, UP, Delhi etc.

In the Telugu speaking states, Jr NTR stardom is on a different level but remember that if the marketing material constantly highlights NTR as the main villain of the film then it will lose some business as the cinema culture there is such. Rajinikanth too has a huge following in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana and with the presence of Nagarjuna in Coolie, it is a stiff competition. Coolie in North India will do decent business but even if that business is ZERO, it will not affect Coolie in any way just like the IMAX gimmick.

In Karnataka, Rajnikanth has a huge following and NTR also has face value but the plus here is the presence of Upendra. If Upendra’s character arc is interesting and the writing is strong, the B & C centres of Karnataka will do explosive business, especially in single screens where Rajinikanth is already a rage.

In regions like North America, Australia, New Zealand it is a cut throat competition. To put things straight, both the films are not direct threats to each other. Hence, the whole noise around clash, hype etc is just shallow. Yes, very few markets or screens will have this issue but not on a big level.

Having said that, Coolie is expected to take a bumper start in India and across overseas markets and the same case is with War 2. But so far, we can only hope that War 2 has something more than the usual Spy Universe template.

Stay Tuned to Inside Box Office for more such interesting analysis and box office updates.