Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Tamil-language “Leo: Bloody Sweet” starring Vijay debuted in third place at the global box office last weekend with $31.2 million worldwide, according to estimates released by Comscore on Sunday.
The weekend was won by Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon” starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro and Lily Gladstone with $44 million, followed by “Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” with $41.5 million. However, in terms of cumulative worldwide new releases, “Leo” has earned $48.5 million (after four days) compared to the $44 million earned by “Killers of the Flower Moon”.
An homage to David Cronenberg’s 2005 film “A History of Violence”, “Leo” was released on 19 October. The action-thriller follows a docile cafe owner (Vijay) who is incited to return to his violent past. The cast also includes Sanjay Dutt, Arjun Sarja, Trisha Krishnan, Madonna Sebastian, Gautham Vasudev Menon, Mysskin, Mansoor Ali Khan, George Maryan, Priya Anand and Mathew Thomas. The film is produced by S.S. Lalit Kumar and Jagadish Palanisamy for Seven Screen Studio.
In the US, “Leo” was released by Prathyangira Cinemas and grossed $2.1 million over the weekend. In the UK and Ireland, it was released by Ahimsa Entertainment and grossed £1.07 million ($1.3 million) in its first three days.
“Leo” is the latest instalment in Kanagaraj’s LCU, or Lokesh Cinematic Universe, which began with “Kaithi” (2019), continued with “Vikram” in 2022 and retroactively included the 1986 title “Vikram”. Characters from Kaithi and 2022’s Vikram appear in Leo.
This is the second time that Vijay, known to his fans as “Thalapathy” (Commander), has teamed up with Kanagaraj. They previously worked together in 2021’s “Master”, which grossed $36 million. Vijay went on to headline “Beast” (2022) and “Varisu” (2023), both of which did similar numbers to “Master”.
Kanagaraj’s “Vikram”, starring Kamal Haasan, was one of the highest grossing Indian films of 2022 with a gross of $60 million. His next film will be the 171st film starring South Indian superstar Rajinikanth, which is currently untitled.
