Leo Shines as the Biggest Tamil Opening Grosser
Vijay starrer Leo has become the biggest overseas weekend grosser in the Tamil film industry with a collection of $15.40 million (Rs.128 crore) through Saturday, surpassing Rajinikanth starrer Jailer, which earned $15 million over the first four days of the week.
Adding the Indian collection of Rs.167 crore to the overseas collection takes Leo”s total box office revenue to Rs.295 crore. Sunday”s collection is expected to push the film past the Rs.300 crore mark, a record high for a Tamil film.
With the initial pull, the film was expected to surpass $20 million over four days, but a slowdown in collections on Friday hampered the momentum. Moreover, audiences did not show up on Saturday as expected, limiting the gain to Rs.128 crore.
Despite these setbacks, Leo was able to break the opening record set by other Tamil movies in all territories except the United States.
Europe has been a strong market for Vijay, and his latest film is no exception. Even his weakest performers have been among the top grossers in this region, and Leo is certainly not a weak film.
The Middle East has also seen record numbers, with the UAE registering 250K admissions and Saudi Arabia around 50K admissions, which is close to an all-time record for Tamil films.
Overseas box office collections by territory:
- USA: $3.5 million
- UAE: $2.5 million
- UK: $1.5 million
- Malaysia: $1.2 million
- Australia: $1 million
- Singapore: $500K
- Canada: $500K
- Rest of the world: $4.2 million
