With the Indian moviegoing slowly coming back after the last CoVID wave, we will have our first taste of big releases this week. One among those is the long-awaited Ajith Kumar starrer action thriller Valimai. Initially dated for Pongal release, the film was forced to be delayed by the Omicron wave in January, and now will finally see the light of day this Thursday.
As we reported earlier, Valimai fetched record prices for its theatrical rights in Tamil Nadu. The same holds true for the worldwide theatrical pre-release business, bringing in Rs. 96 crores approx. This beats Ajith's previous best 2017 release Vivegam, which fetched Rs. 85 crores approx for its theatrical rights. Most of these deals were undertaken considering the competition from RRR, which was initially supposed to release a week earlier. Now there is no competition from that film but it will also be missing on the Pongal festival boost, so that sort of evens out. Considering the finance costs from the repeated delays and other release expenses, the film needs to earn Rs. 100 crores plus share to have its distributors in green. 
The theatrical pre-release business of Ajith Kumar starrer Valimai is as follows:
Tamil Nadu - Rs. 64.50 crores
AP/TS - Rs. 2.50 crores
Karnataka - Rs. 4 crores
Kerala - Rs. 2.50 crores (valued)
North India - Rs. 2.50 crores (valued)
India Total - Rs. 76 crores
Overseas - Rs. 20 crores
Worldwide - Rs. 96 crores
The above prices are all excluding GST and include estimated values for some territories which are distributed through “own release”. Other than the theatrical revenue, the film will realise another Rs. 60 crores approx from the non-theatrical ancillary revenues like satellite, digital and music. The first two are with Zee and there will be an in house valuation. The overall pre-release business amounts to Rs. 155 crores approx.
