Lokesh Kanagaraj‘s Tamil-language “Leo: Bloody Sweet,” starring Vijay, debuted in third position at the global box office over the latest weekend, with $31.2 million planetwide, according to estimates released on Sunday by Comscore.
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 worldwide cumulative among new releases, “Leo” scored $48.5 million (after four days) compared with the $44 million earned by “Killers of the Flower Moon.”
An homage to David Cronenberg’s 2005 film “A History of Violence,” “Leo” released on Oct. 19. 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 U.S., “Leo” was released by Prathyangira Cinemas and earned $2.1 million over the weekend. In the U.K. and Ireland it was released by Ahimsa Entertainment and collected £1.07 million ($1.3 million) in its first three days of release.
“Leo” is the latest instalment in Kanagaraj’s LCU or Lokesh Cinematic Universe, which began with “Kaithi” (2019), continued with “Vikram” in 2022 and retrospectively included 1986 title “Vikram.” Characters from “Kaithi” and the 2022 “Vikram” make appearances in “Leo.”
This is the second time that Vijay, known to his fans as “Thalapathy” (commander), is teaming with Kanagaraj. They previously collaborated on 2021’s “Master,” which grossed $36 million. Vijay subsequently headlined “Beast” (2022) and “Varisu” (2023), both of which delivered numbers similar to “Master.”
Kanagaraj’s “Vikram,” starring Kamal Haasan, was one of the highest Indian grossers of 2022 with $60 million of gross revenues. His next film will be the 171st film starring South Indian movie superstar Rajinikanth, which is currently untitled.
