Amid all the ambiguity around the release of Vijay’s Leo in the Telugu states and its earliest show in Tamil Nadu, Lokesh Kanagaraj’s action flick has garnered the highest number of tickets sold in advance booking this year. As reported by Sacnilk, Leo has already sold 16 lakh tickets and may end up selling 20 lakh tickets before the opening day.

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Leo beats Jawan

In the process, Vijay’s Leo has beaten Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan, which released last month and now stands as the highest Hindi grosser within India, in the number of tickets sold in advance. Jawan had sold 15.75 lakh tickets in advance booking for its opening day. The Tamil version of Leo has sold 13.75 lakh tickets, whereas the Telugu and Hindi versions stand at 2.10 lakh and 20,000 tickets respectively.

Leo still behind Jawan

However, the amount Leo has grossed is still less than that of Jawan. While Lokesh’s film has earned ₹31 crore so far, Jawan secured ₹41 crore via advance booking. The reason behind this disparity is the difference in the average ticket price of both the films. The average ticket price for Jawan on the opening day was ₹251, whereas for Leo, it’s ₹202.

Other hurdles for Leo

Leo is facing an additional hurdle in its biggest target state, Tamil Nadu, where the Madras High Court has allowed its earliest show to start only at 7 AM, and not 4 AM, as requested by the makers. The number of shows in a day has also been restricted to five, between 9 AM and 1:30 AM, given the film’s runtime of 2 hours and 43 minutes, a mandatory interval time of 20 minutes, and 40 minutes for cleaning the cinema hall after every show.

Leo will release on October 19 in 2D and IMAX in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam, and Kannada.