As ‘Leo’ earns ₹8 crore in pre-sales, Kerala braces to welcome Thalapathy Vijay’s most-anticipated movie

Around 80,000 tickets for Lokesh Kanagaraj's directorial were sold in an hour and around 3 lakh tickets by the end of the day on 15 October.

ByArjun Ramachandran

Published Oct 17, 2023 | 5:00 PM ⚊UpdatedOct 17, 2023 | 5:44 PM

A flexi in Kerala ahead of Leo release

A flexi set up in Kerala ahead of the release of Vijay's 'Leo'. (Supplied)

Tamil Superstar Thalapathy Vijay enjoys a huge fan base in Kerala, and his fans couldn’t have asked for more as the special shows of his upcoming film Leo will be held at 4 am across the state.

Interestingly, Lokesh Kanagaraj’s directorial has been deprived of this luxury in Tamil Nadu as the Madras High Court didn’t give its nod to holding early morning shows. As a result, Thalapathy fans from Tamil Nadu are all likely to travel to the nearest cities in Kerala to watch the first shows of their favourite star.

However, the Tamil Nadu government directed the makers of Leo to approach the government to screen additional shows, apart from the regular four shows for six days, at 7 am instead of the prescribed 9 am.

In Kerala, Gokulam Cinemas bagged the rights of Leo for a whopping ₹16 crore. The distributor earlier bought the rights for Rajinikanth’s recent Tamil mega hit Jailer (2023) and Shah Rukh Khan’s latest Bollywood blockbuster Jawan (2023).

After the success of Kamal Haasan’s Vikram (2022), Lokesh Kanagaraj earned a huge fan following in Kerala too. And now, the Malayali audiences are waiting with bated breath for his latest directorial venture to hit the marquee.

Related: No 4 am show for Vijay’s ‘Leo’ in Tamil Nadu: Madras High Court

Breaks pre-sales records

Even before its release, the Thalapahy Vijay-starrer broke the pre-sale records in Kerala by beating KGF 2. The movie earned ₹8 crore in its initial pre-sales as against KGF 2‘s ₹7.30 crore.

According to trade pundits, even before its release, Leo already shattered Jailer‘s first-day collection of ₹5.85 crore. They attributed the reason for the increase in ticket sales to Tamilians who visit the theatres in Kerala to attend the fan shows — 4 am, 5.30 am, and 7 am.

Leo already created a pre-release record in the UK with 10000+ tickets getting booked within a day of opening the sales, 42 days before its global release. Ahimsa Entertainment is distributing the movie in the UK and Europe.

Related: Vijay’s ‘Leo’ sets pre-release record in the UK

While the bookings for Leo began in Kerala at around 10 am on Sunday, 15 October, around 80,000 tickets were sold in an hour and around 3 lakh tickets by the end of the day.

Meanwhile, the early morning shows in the multiplexes in Kochi and Thiruvananthapuram have been charted at 5 am and 5.30 am.

Single-screen theatres in Kerala like Ragam Theatre in Thrissur, EVM Kavitha (Ernakulam), and Magic Frames Radha (Kozhikode) are also screening special shows of Leo. The bookings have already begun in these cinema halls and most of the shows are houseful by now.

Palakkad Aroma Theatre decorated ahead of Leo release

Palakkad Aroma Theatre decorated ahead of ‘Leo’ release. (Supplied)

In Kochi city and its outskirts, around 15 theatres are organising a marathon screening of Leo, taking the number of shows on the opening day to a total of 160.

In Thiruvananthapuram, more than 150 shows will be held in at least 30 centres.

Meanwhile, the Thiruvananthapuram and Palakkad districts, which share a border with Tamil Nadu, will witness Tamilians flocking to the movie halls to watch their matinee idol on the silver screen.

Even theatres in small towns like Mannarkkad and Shornur in the Palakkad district will have people from Tamil Nadu making beelines at the theatres.

Related: First shows of ‘Leo’ can be screened only at 9 am, says Tamil Nadu government

Vijay fans on celebration mode

Ragam Theatre in Thrissur ahead of the release of ‘Leo’. (Supplied)

With only two days left for release, Vijay’s fans in the state are in a celebration mode, especially since their favourite actor’s film is getting a rousing welcome in Kerala.

A Vijay fan from Palakkad said that he was bombarded with queries about fan shows of Leo for the past few days. He added that he and his friends can’t wait to watch the first show of the Vijay-starrer.

Meanwhile, the record-breaking ticket sales came as a huge relief for the theatres in Kerala which made a good business with the success of Jailer, RDX, Jawan, and Kannur Squad.

A Malappuram-based theatre owner told South First that there was an overwhelming response to the ticket sales on the opening day of Leo.

“This certainly is a good trend. Now, we’re also planning to accommodate the Kannada dubbed movie Ghost (2023) starring Shiva Rajkumar in the lead role,” he added.

Related: Controversies surrounding Lokesh Kanagaraj-Vijay’s film ‘Leo’

Over 40 lakh tickets sold 

Meanwhile, the ticket sales in the Aries Plex theatre, a quality multiplex in Thiruvananthapuram, crossed the 40-lakh mark with a total of 125 shows and an occupancy of 21,811 viewers.

As of now, the theatre opened the bookings for Leo for a week. On day 1, the theatre collected ₹16.53 lakh.

It’s more or less the same scene in most theatres which have been decked up with huge cutouts of Thalapathy Vijay.

Kerala will also have the IMAX version of Leo which will be screened at PVR Imax at Lulu Mall, Trivandrum.

This is the first film of Vijay to be released in the IMAX format. It will also be dubbed in Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, and Hindi.

The movie has an ensemble cast of Trisha, Sanjay Dutt, Arjun, Priya Anand, Mishkin, Gautam Menon, Mansoor Ali Khan, and Mathew Thomas.

Its music is composed by sensational music director Anirudh Ravichander. The action choreography is by Anbariv.

Related: Release of ‘Leo’ Telugu version withheld after Hyderabad court order

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