Leo: Paid premieres for Thalapathy Vijay starrer in TN, makers look to overcome govt restrictions

The paid premiere for Leo, starring Thalapathy Vijay, is touted as a strategic move to overcome the ban on early morning shows in Tamil Nadu.

Leo movie poster

In exciting news for fans of Thalapathy Vijay, the makers of Leo are planning to hold paid premieres in Tamil Nadu a day before the movie's actual release. According to industry sources, several theatres in Tamil Nadu have received inquiries to assess interest in these premiere screenings, awaiting official confirmation.

"Looks like #Leo premiere will happen a day ahead of the official release date with evening & night shows in TN," tweeted Rakesh Gowthaman of Vettri Theatres.

No early morning shows for Leo

ALSO READ: Confirmed! No early morning shows for Leo, Thalapathy Vijay fans upset

This is touted as a strategic move to overcome the ban on early morning shows in Tamil Nadu. Earlier, this year, the Tamil Nadu government banned the theatres from hosting special fan shows following the death of a young man while celebrating the release of Tamil superstar Ajith Kumar's Thunivu.

The government has also imposed restrictions on the number of daily screenings a theatre can hold, limiting them to a maximum of four shows per day, barring Sundays and holidays. If theatres wish to conduct special screenings, they must obtain special permission from the government, and even in such cases, the first show cannot begin before 9 AM.

While these regulations may not pose significant challenges for movies without star-studded casts, theatres stand to lose a lot of revenue when it comes to big-budget productions.

Leo enjoys massive craze

For example, Leo is one of the most-awaited Tamil movies of this year. And the theatres have an ample opportunity to cash in on the craze by running special shows and making quick returns on their investments. However, the four-show limit hinders theatres from fully capitalising on such opportunities, especially as not every film generates the level of frenzy seen with Leo.

ALSO READ: Thalapathy Vijay's Leo theatrical rights in Tamil Nadu fetches record numbers

It seems the producers have come up with this plan to have paid premieres to circumvent these challenges and maximize the film's potential impact.

Directed by Lokesh Kanagaraj, Leo is bankrolled by Seven Screen Studio. And it also has Trisha, Sanjay Dutt, Arjun, Priya Anand, Mysskin, Gautham Vasudev Menon and Mansoor Ali Khan among others in the supporting cast.

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