Sun Pictures, the production house behind Rajinikanth starrer Coolie made a grand announcement Sunday evening that Coolie is now the all-time highest-grossing Tamil film in North America, with a total gross collection of $6,719,999. This raised a lot of eye-brows because just two years back, Sun Pictures and Superstar Rajinikanth had collaborated on another movie titled Jailer (2023), which went on to collect a whopping $7.27 million in North America. 

Why would a production house under-report its own film?

In the film industry, “North America” is often treated as a single box office territory, combining the U.S. and Canada into one aggregate figure. Box-Office data sources like Comscore, which is the industry standard used by Hollywood studios and many exhibitors to track collection figures, don’t break out Canada separately, unless a distributor specifically requests, or pays for that detailed reporting.

Jailer (2023) was distributed in North America by Prime Media, while Coolie (2025)'s North America distributor is Prathyangira Cinemas. In both cases, it is highly likely that the distributor didn’t push Comscore to split, explaining why only the combined “North America” number got logged.

Another factor at play here is the gaps in box-office reporting systems, such as inconsistent data-sharing agreements, that can result in unreported totals. For instance, Tamil film Canada box-office have long gone unreported when ≤ $1.5 million (USD converted from CAD). Canadian inputs are sometimes missed entirely due to being distributed in the region by smaller, local partners, and overseas earnings are often compiled by trade analysts through an established network of known exhibitor contacts.

Transparency concerns within reporting frameworks, as in if Canada’s box-office data was deemed unreliable, or non-verifiable, then analysts, and trackers might leave out such collections entirely. A combination of all of these reasons is why Tamil film earnings in Canada is left out from North America collections, leading productions houses to rely on only the officially reported numbers overseas. 

Is Coolie the highest grossing Tamil film in North America?

Coolie's North America gross collection in 10 days plus its premiere night is $6,719,999. As of now, atleast two Tamil movies 2.0 (distributed in North America by Prime Media, GK Medias), and Jailer (distributed in North America by Prime Media) have a final gross more than $7 million in North America, if one includes the unreported Canada box-office. 

Having said that, it is likely that Coolie's Canada box-office is also likely under-reported at the moment. Also Coolie is still running in North American theaters, and only a final box-office tally can tell if Coolie is indeed the highest grossing Tamil film in USA, and Canada combined. 

Highest Grossing Tamil Films in North America - Correct* VS Reported Gross

(Coolie Excluded)

*Data arrived from various sources