GOAT box-office collection Day 8: Vijay's thriller ready to top Varisu, will it have the strength to beat Rajini's Jailer?

Thalapathy Vijay’s latest film, The Greatest of All Time (GOAT), is showing strong box office performance, setting the stage to surpass the lifetime collection of his earlier hit, Varisu. 

Despite an initial slowdown, GOAT has collected ₹177.75 crore in India by its eighth day, and it’s just shy of overtaking Varisu's ₹178.14 crore domestic earnings. 

The film is also locked in a tight contest with Rajinikanth’s Jailer, with comparisons on track records adding fuel to the fan rivalry.

On its eighth day, GOAT brought in ₹6.5 crore across India, a significant drop from its ₹44 crore opening, but still enough to keep it in the running as the biggest Tamil hit of the year. 

In Chennai, the film saw an occupancy rate of 36% across 800 shows, with overall Tamil occupancy at 24.15%. However, the Telugu version underperformed in Hyderabad, with only 13.75% occupancy across 235 shows, according to industry tracker Sacnilk.

As GOAT prepares to surpass Varisu, which grossed ₹297.55 crore worldwide, the anticipation is high. Vijay’s fans are eagerly watching as the film inches closer to challenging the box office reign of Rajinikanth's Jailer, which grossed ₹604.5 crore worldwide, including ₹348.55 crore in India. 

Although GOAT trails Jailer in overseas collections, where it has earned ₹126.8 crore compared to Jailer's ₹196 crore, the quick pace of GOAT's domestic earnings may close that gap.

Directed by Venkat Prabhu and starring Vijay in a double role, GOAT has made waves despite mixed reviews and a slower-than-expected second week. For fans, the encouraging news is that Jailer took 8 weeks to reach its final tally, whereas GOAT is only on its 8th day, giving it plenty of time to catch up.