Jailer 2 Beats Vijay’s Jana Nayagan to Become 2026’s Highest Tamil Grosser in Just 4 Days
Rajinikanth’s Jailer 2 needed just four days to rewrite the 2026 Tamil box-office record books. The Nelson Dilipkumar action-comedy collected Rs 199.90 crore (India net) in its extended opening weekend, overtaking Thalapathy Vijay’s final film Jana Nayagan (Rs 198.57 crore) to become the year’s highest Tamil grosser, according to a Variety India trade report.
The day-wise run tells the story of a film that gathered pace: Rs 59.70 crore on day one (Thursday, October 15), a dip to Rs 37.10 crore on Friday, a recovery to Rs 47.25 crore on Saturday and a strong Rs 55.85 crore on Sunday — an 18.2% jump over Saturday. The original Tamil version led the charge with Rs 143.70 crore at an average occupancy of 70.5%, followed by the Telugu dub (Rs 37.75 crore), the Hindi version (Rs 16.65 crore) and Kannada (Rs 1.80 crore).
Worldwide, the film grossed Rs 424.25 crore in four days — again overtaking Jana Nayagan’s Rs 324.68 crore — with overseas markets contributing an estimated Rs 190 crore. The film also debuted at No. 9 on the US weekend box-office chart with $3.2 million from 800 theatres, a rare feat for a Tamil film. Trade watchers expect another upswing today with the Dussehra holiday boosting footfalls.
The milestone also settled a bigger bragging-rights battle. According to Koimoi’s box-office analysis, Rajinikanth has now dethroned Thalapathy Vijay as Kollywood’s highest-grossing star of the post-COVID era: Rajinikanth’s five post-COVID releases total approximately Rs 1,981.01 crore in worldwide gross, against Vijay’s Rs 1,909.95 crore — and Rajinikanth is now closing in on the Rs 2,000-crore mark, a first for a Kollywood star.
Remarkably, Jailer 2 achieved this without the advantage of a national or festive holiday in its opening weekend, and despite direct competition from new releases including Vijay Deverakonda and Rashmika Mandanna’s Ranabaali, Yami Gautam’s Nayyi Navelli and Rajkummar Rao’s Prahaar — the Rajinikanth film remained the top pick for cinegoers through the weekend.
Directed by Nelson Dilipkumar, who also helmed the 2023 original, Jailer 2 is produced by Kalanithi Maran under the Sun Pictures banner with music by Anirudh Ravichander. Ramya Krishnan, Yogi Babu, Mirnaa and Rithvik reprise their roles, joined by S. J. Suryah, Mithun Chakraborty, Suraj Venjaramoodu and Vidya Balan, with cameos by Mohanlal, Shiva Rajkumar, Jackie Shroff, Hrithik Roshan and Vijay Sethupathi.
Note: All box-office figures are trade estimates (Sacnilk-tracked) and may be revised as official data comes in.
Source: Variety India
