Will Vijay's 'Leo' Outperform Rajini's 'Jailer' In Bengaluru?

When it comes to the craze of cinema in India, the hype of southern movies is unmatched. The latest on this trend bandwagon is Shivaraj Kumar's multi-language film 'Ghost' and Vijaya Thalapathy's 'Leo'. While 'Ghost' is slated for a 12.15-midnight release, Leo will hit Bengaluru theatres at 3.45 am on October 19th.

And going by initial trends, the Vijay-starrer is making all the headlines and lending to a fan craze that will surpass the hype of the recent Rajinikanth starer 'Jailer'. Even before release, the film has banked crores of rupees in the non-Tamil Nadu belt. According to media reports, 'Leo' will bank 100 crore rupees on Day 1 of release itself.

Adding to the rush is the fact that people are in Dasara mood. Theatres have slotted 'Leo' in Tamil, 'Ghost' in Kannada, Balayya's 'Bhagavanth Kesari' and Ravi Teja's' 'Tiger Nageswara Rao' in Telugu this week. However, Leo movie is getting more screens in Karnataka, Andhra and Telangana compared to local language movies.

One of the reasons for the unimaginable response to the early morning show of 'Leo' in Bengaluru is that so far there is no permission for early morning screening in Tamil Nadu. And as the Kannada and Tamil versions are releasing simultaneously, the Kannada version will be available at twelve theatres, while the Tamil version at over 105 screens.

More than 190 shows will be in Bengaluru theatres alone between 4 AM and 7 AM on Oct 19, according to BookMyShow. This clearly surpasses the number of screenings of the recently released Rajini's 'Jailer'. Tickets for the early morning show were sold for more than one thousand rupees each. And according to Business Today over 70,000 tickets have already been sold for this weekend alone in Bengaluru.

Last month 'Jailer' movie was not given many Kannada screens. But as the fan turnout grew distributors increased the Kannada showings but the initial jumpstart was lost. A plus point for 'Jailer' was that actor Shivraj Kumar appeared in a cameo role, this also led to an increase in Kannada screening. At the end of the day, distributors bought the Karnataka release of 'Jailer' for nearly 8 crore rupees and ended up with a whopping 36 crore rupees.

Rajinikanth's pan India following is unparalleled which worked in favour of 'Jailer'. But Vijay's following mainly comprises Tamil film watchers. Therefore, how people will receive his dubbed versions is being keenly watched. The film has also gained more attention amid news of his political entry and alleged faceoff with Udhayanidhi Stalin over film distribution rights.

So can 'Leo' overshadow the success of 'Jailer'? Can it take on the combined might of 'Ghost', 'Bhagavanth Kesari' and 'Tiger Nageswara Rao'? The verdict will be out in a few hours.