Just before mid-night on October 16, overseas movie distributors Prathyangira Cinemas tweeted: “There hasn’t been a million-dollar premiere film for Indian cinema in the USA since last year’s RRR, but we’ve already smashed it with pre-sales.”
The movie in question is Thalapathy Vijay’s Tamil-language action thriller Leo and the market under the scanner is the US, long considered Rajinikanth’s stronghold. Leo appeared to cruise past the premiere collection of Rajinikanth’s Jailer in the USA – a whopping $802,628 — without breaking a sweat. SS Rajamouli’s RRR starring Ram Charan and NTR Jr in the lead roles topped $4.50 million during its US premiere in March 2022.
Back home, when the bookings for Leo opened in India on October 14, 82,400 tickets were sold in one hour flat. Over the next two days (till October 16), the film crossed Rs 100 crore in global pre-sales. As of Tuesday, a total of 12,63,432 tickets for the Tamil and Telugu version of the film had been sold in India, as per trade portal Sacnilk.
The two other Day 1 Rs 100-crore grossers of 2023 are Pathaan (Rs 105 crore worldwide) and Jawan (Rs 120 crore worldwide), both starring Bollywood star Shah Rukh Khan.
Directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj and produced at a budget of around Rs 300 crore, Leo will release in theatres worldwide on October 19 in 2D and IMAX formats. The film’s IMAX shows in the UK will premiere on October 18 at 11:30 pm.
The buzz around the movies release is palpable. Vijay fans had gone so far as to demand special 4.00 AM shows of the movie in Tamil Nadu, which was ultimately turned down by the state government.
Vijay’s last four movies — Mersal (2017), Sarkar (2018), Bigil (2019) and Master (2021) – have all been rated blockbuster or super hit by movie, television and celebrity content provider IMDb. Just one of his movies in the last 10 years, namely Puli (2015), has been dubbed a flop by the online database. And while the rumour about his Rs 200-crore paycheck remains unconfirmed, if true, it would place Vijay in the list of the country’s highest-paid actors.
Boasting of an ensemble cast including Sanjay Dutt, Trisha, Gautham Vasudev Menon and Priya Anand besides Vijay, Leo has already secured its position as the all-time number one opener in Kerala with close to Rs 8 crore in pre-sales. The movie will have around 3,000 shows on its first day in the state, making it the widest release ever in Kerala.