The North American market has become one of the biggest overseas revenue drivers for Indian cinema, particularly for Telugu and Tamil films. Indian film market continues to witness record-breaking audience enthusiasm, with premiere pre-sales now rivaling major Hollywood tentpole openings. Premiere pre-sales—advance bookings for exclusive first-night shows before the official release day—are often seen as the clearest measure of fan anticipation and star power.

Superstar Rajinikanth's Coolie has checked this box, becoming the first Tamil film to cross the $2million mark in North America pre-sales, excluding full day-one and opening weekend aggregates. 

All-Time Top 10 Kollywood Premieres – North America

1. Coolie (Rajinikanth) – $2,000,000 (2025) Not final premiere gross

2. Kabali (Rajinikanth) – $1,922,995 (2016)

3. Leo (Vijay) – $1,863,631 (2023)

4. GOAT (Vijay) – $1,090,450 (2024)

5. Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1 (Vikram) – $1,054,891 (2022)

6. Jailer (Rajinikanth) – $948,698 (2023) Only USA reported

7. Indian 2 (Kamal Haasan) – $930,449 (2024)

8. Vettaiyan (Rajinikanth) – $854,513 (2024)

9. Ponniyin Selvan: Part 2 (Vikram) – $737,009 (2023)

10. Beast (Vijay) – $658,544 (2022) Only USA reported

Coolie is also one of the few Tamil films to break into the top 10 North America premiere presales table, signaling that the synergy of 74 year old Rajini's endurance, and the PAN Indian appeal of Coolie is working well for the film's box-office.   

Top 10 Indian films ranked by premiere pre-sales in North America

1. Kalki 2898 AD (Telugu) - $3.9M
2. RRR (Telugu) - $3.46M
3. Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (Telugu) - $3M
4. Salaar: Part 1 - Ceasefire (Telugu) - $2.6M
5. Devara: Part 1 (Telugu) - $2.4–$2.5M
6. Coolie (Tamil) - $2M (with 2 days left for film's release)
7. Kabali (Tamil) - $1.92M
8. Leo (Tamil) - $1.86M
9. Pushpa 2: The Rule (Telugu) - $1.4M
10. Ponniyin Selvan: Part 1 (Tamil) - $1.1M

A Sun Pictures production, Coolie is a multi-starrer action thriller that marks the maiden collaboration of Rajinikanth with writer-director Lokesh Kanagaraj. The movie comes with a PAN-Indian cast, featuring names like Aamir Khan, Nagarjuna, Soubin Shahir, Upendra, Shruthi Haasan, Sathyaraj, Pooja Hegde among others in its ensemble. Coolie releases on August 14, 2025 in Tamil, Telugu, Hindi, Malayalam, and Kannada languages.