2.0 pre-release business: Rajinikanth-Akshay Kumar's film beats Baahubali 2 record in Kerala

Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar-starrer 2.0 has started setting records even before its release. Touted as the biggest movie made in India in terms of budget, the multilingual film has now broken a record set by SS Rajamouli's Baahubali 2.

The makers of 2.0 have sold the Kerala theatrical rights of the movie to August Cinemas for a record price. If the rumours are to be believed, the contract was signed for a minimum guarantee amount of Rs 16 crore.

It means the said price is assured amount paid by the distributor to the producer and upon recovering the investment, the producer will get a share of the profit.

The Kerala theatrical rights and other rights of Baahubali 2 were sold to Global Media United for Rs 11 crore. It was the highest amount paid for a non-Malayalam movie and the Rajinikanth film has reportedly shattered the record.

The good pre-release hype and the success of Rajinikanth's Enthiran – The Robot are believed to be the major factors that were considered by the distributor before signing the deal.

Rajinikanth's Kabali (Rs 7.5 crore), Ilayathalapathy Vijay's films like Mersal (Rs 6.6 crore) and Theri (Rs 5.6 crore) were some other non-Malayalam films that made some solid pre-release business in terms of theatrical rights before in Kerala.

Interestingly, the Kerala theatrical rights of the first instalment of Baahubali series were sold for Rs 3.2 crore.

2.0 is a science-fiction being made with the budget of Rs 450 crore. Bankrolled by Lyca Productions, the film is directed by ace filmmaker Shankar. AR Rahman has composed the music, Nirav Shah handles the cinematography department and Anthony does the editing.