How Rajinikanth’s ‘Kabali’ has earned Rs 200 crore, days before its release

While its box office business is the subject of much frenzied speculation, Rajinikanth-starrer Kabali has already earned Rs 200 crore in the run-up to its 22 July release.
But just how has it earned that sum even before making it to the theatres?
Here’s a break-up:

Overseas rights have netted Kabali’s producers a cool Rs 30 crore. Teugu language rights have brought another Rs 30 crore. The rights for Kerala and Karnataka have been sold for another Rs 15 crore, and the Hindi satellite rights for Rs 16 crore — this is separate from the Hindi theatrical rights, which have been sold for Rs 15 crore.
How has Rajinikanth’s ‘Kabali’ earned Rs 200 cr — even before it opens in theatres?How has Rajinikanth’s ‘Kabali’ earned Rs 200 cr — even before it opens in theatres?
In Rajinikanth’s ‘base’ of Tamil Nadu, Kabali rights have done a business of Rs 65 crore and satellite rights have earned another Rs 30 crore.

Music rights — bagged by Think Music for all the three language versions of Kabali (Hindi, Tamil and Telugu) — were sold for Rs 5 crore.

That’s a neat Rs 206 crore — without even factoring in the marketing tie-ups with various brands. (The marketing spend by companies like Air Asia, Airtel, Ola, Cadbury, Muthoot Finance etc that have tied up with Kabali is estimated to be around Rs 40 crore.)

Kabali is expected to become the highest-earning film for a producer in South India says G Dhananjayan, producer-distributor and founder of BOFTA Film Institute, Chennai. He says, “Kabali is going to be a game-changer in the business of Tamil cinema. After Salman Khan’s Sultan, Kabali will be the biggest film in India. There’s no doubt about it.”

On Firstpost: As Kabali-Sultan comparisons are drawn, these are the numbers Rajinikanth starrer has to beat
Another trade analyst, on condition of anonymity said, “The first day collection for Kabali will definitely hit Rs 40 crore. We expect the film to make Rs 15 crore in Tamil Nadu, Rs 8 crore in North India, and Rs 5 crore in Kerala and Karnataka. The overseas box office collection should be at least Rs 12 crore.”
The biggest earnings are expected to come in over the opening weekend, especially since many theatres are planning to increase the number of shows over Saturday and Sunday (23-24 July). “Since even the weekend shows are houseful in most places at this point, the collection for Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be an unprecedented number for Tamil cinema,” our trade source said.

Kabali producer Kalaipuli S Thanu has already declared that he expects the film to make more than Rs 500 crores and that it has the power to beat Baahubali’s record. Now we just need to wait for 22 July to see if his prediction will come true.