King of Kotha box office: Dulquer Salmaan is set for record-making opening

Dulquer Salmaan has roots in Malayalam cinema, but he has conquered a lot of land across the Indian film industry. And the upcoming movie King of Kotha is set to reap the benefits of Dulquer's over a decade-worth of hard work. 

King of Kotha is one of the expensive movie's in Dulquer's career . And it's releasing on August 24, just in time before the Onam festivities kick in. Even though the movie will clash with Nivin Pauly's Ramachandra Boss & Co and youthful action drama RDX at the box office, King of Kotha is likely to be the top choice of Malayalis this holiday. 

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King of Kotha has got so many things right from the word go. The movie caught the imagination of movie patrons across the country on the very day the movie went on the floors last year. And the movie has only managed to increase the anticipation for its release since. 

According to pre-release tracking estimates and advance ticket sales, King of Kotha is set for a record-making opening at the worldwide box office. And it will easily become the biggest-ever opening in Dulquer's career and push the benchmark for Malayalam cinema at the worldwide box office. 

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Malayalam cinema is already basking in the pan-India success of 2018. The disaster movie, starring Tovino Thomas in the lead role, was based on the real-life events that happened when torrential rains sank a significant part of Kerala. The movie exceeded expectations and became the biggest Malayalam earner globally. If not for its pre-mature release on the streaming platform, 2018 could have created more records in terms of collection . The movie ended its monthlong terrific box office run with over Rs 200 crore in ticket sales. It became the biggest hit in the history of Malayalam cinema. 

Unlike 2018, which had a limited release outside Kerala, Dulquer, who is also the producer of the movie, is giving a big launch for King of Kotha. The movie is released on the highest number of screens across the country. It's also getting a big launch in the Middle East. The fan shows will begin as early as 7 am on Thursday in Kerala. 

As King of Kotha is releasing in multiple languages simultaneously, Dulquer has also done a solid job promoting the movie across the country. He has earned a lot of goodwill with audiences in different languages with several hit films. For example, his last movie Sita Ramam, a Telugu romantic drama, was one of the biggest hits last year. And he's also a very familiar face with the audience in the Hindi belt. It remains to be seen whether Dulquer's pan-India popularity will translate into ticket sales. 

It's a foregone conclusion that King of Kotha will take a huge opening, shattering the records of several previous Malayalam blockbusters. If the content is good and manages to strike a chord with the audience, then it might just beat 2018 at the box office. 

King of Kotha is a gangster drama, and is helmed by Abhilash Joshiy. It also stars Shabeer Kallarakkal, Prasanna, Gokul Suresh, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Nyla Usha, Chemban Vinod Jose, Shammi Thilakan, Saran, and Anikha Surendran.