NEW YORK: Giant 25-ft high cutouts of South Indian movie star Rajnikant were unveiled across the US on the release of the actor's latest movie Kuselan on July 31, at theaters in New Jersey, Dallas, Houston, Bay Area and Chicago.

The mega budget movie filmed both in Tamil and Telugu was released in 50 centers simultaneously all over the US, a record of sorts for any South Indian movie in this country and the highest among all Indian movies. Rajnikanth is the second highest paid actor in Asia after Jackie Chan and also has the highest number of fans in the world with fan clubs in 28 countries.

The movie is being released by Pyramid Saimira Group, parent company of FunAsia that operates the largest chain of Bollywood theaters in North America, which has acquired the global rights of Kuselan.

Pyramid Saimira ranks as the world's third largest cinema operator based on its number of seats and admissions with nearly 486,258 seats as of March 2008. The Group had earlier distributed Rajnikanth's last super hit movie Sivaji that had grossed over Rs. 125 crore.

The Group has over 53 multiplexes with approximately 955 screens across India, Malaysia, Singapore and North America, and has recently signed an agreement with Spize TV, a UK-based DTH player, as well as an arts and cultural cooperation agreement with the China Society of Music Research Board (CSRMB) to operate theatres, distribute films and further engage in other entertainment and cultural activities in China. By 2010, the Group plans to operate 175 multiplexes with 2,000 screens in India alone.