As far as America is concerned, the August 14 battle at the box office between NTR Jr’s War and Rajinikanth’s Coolie is already resolved.

Rajinikanth’s cinema has a clear lead at the US box office.

The Ayan Mukerji-directed War 2 has sold tickets worth USD 205K for the Hindi and Telugu versions in the US. Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Coolie has accrued an advance booking of USD 1.2 million in the US.

In other international centres too, Coolie takes the lead by a wide margin.

Is this global trend indicative of the fate that awaits the two films at the Indian box office?

Roshan Singh, a leading film exhibitor of Bihar, thinks it is too early to draw conclusions. “Just because Coolie is leading overseas, it doesn’t follow that the same trend would be prevalent in India. Both are very strong films with a terrific face value. Both will get a solid opening. War 2 will be better in the North because of Hrithik Roshan.”

Producer-director Suneel Darshan, who has a release Andaz 2 coming up six days ahead of Coolie and War 2, feels the battle lines are being drawn unnecessarily. “Both could be blockbusters if the audience likes the content. Gadar and Lagaan were released on the same day in 2001. Both were historic successes.”