Can’t find shows of Vijay-Lokesh Kanagaraj’s Leo in North India? Blame it on OTT

But Leo will unfortunately miss its wide scale showcasing at national multiplex chains in North India due to the tussle between the film’s OTT window. The Tamil Nadu film association had agreed for a 4-week OTT window, which meant that their movies could be available for streaming after four weeks. This is creating a problem for the North Indian market, because the agreed window for Hindi films is eight weeks.

“Now, national chains can’t give an exception to this because then every Hindi filmmaker will say they will release their films in four weeks on OTT and get that premium Rs 15-20 cr (extra) from OTT players,” explains trade journalist Himesh Mankad. This has led to Leo not releasing in PVR, Inox, Cinepolis and Miraj which “control more than 50 percent of the market today,” he added.

Veteran distributor and exhibitor Raj Bansal said it is a “missed opportunity” for the makers as Leo’s full potential at the box office in the Hindi belt won’t materialise anymore, despite also featuring actor Sanjay Dutt, who is a huge draw for the Hindi audience.

“They had roped in Sanjay Dutt, targeting North Indian business, but unfortunately haven’t been able to cash in on that. They sold the film to an OTT platform with a four-week lock in period, whereas all the films released in Hindi chains are sold with a lock in period of 8 weeks. So the national multiplex chains–PVR, Inox, Cinepolis and Miraj–have decided to not release it.

“The film will now only release in North in stand-alone multiplexes and single screens, which obviously has lesser market. This will majorly dent Leo’s box office prospects in Hindi,” Raj Bansal, who is the director of Entertainment Paradise, a three-screen multiplex in Jaipur, said.

According to trade sources, Leo is looking at Rs 350-400 cr globally even in the “worst case scenario”. The advance booking, before the first show rolls out, is going to be in the north of Rs 200 cr for the weekend globally– which is a humungous figure.

“So the Hindi market is nothing for them to lose,” Mankad said, adding, “But they could have shown better intent by timing an 8-week OTT window, by opting for better dubbing, promoting it more in the Hindi market. There is demand in the audience, they want to watch it, but there are no shows in the national chains.

“They should have been more ambitious. I had been confident of the film doing well in Hindi since last year, so it is a sad thing. But the makers are going to mint so much money that losing out on the box office of Rs 50-60 cr would be nothing for them.”

To put things in perspective, Lokesh’s last film Vikram, led by Kamal Haasan–and also part of the ‘LCU’–had clashed with Akshay Kumar’s Samrat Prithviraj and Adivi Sesh’s Major. The film took an opening of Rs 30 lakhs and ended up at Rs 10 cr, signifying its phenomenal trending in North India.

Vijay’s last film, Varisu, had released with no promotions and still managed to have an excellent first Sunday in Hindi of Rs 1.50 cr, despite bad reviews. So where does this place Leo, which looks like a far superior movie, in a hypothetical box office scenario?

“Even on OTT, Vikram did well. So the audience base for Leo increases with that, especially when there are talks of Leo being an LCU film. Apart from this, you are adding Sanjay Dutt and it looks like he has been presented well. Him in a massy, larger than life heroic character always works.

“Even Varisu, with a title like that in Hindi, had done Rs 1.50 cr on a Sunday, with no promotions. Its trailer had come five days before the release and it managed to put that Sunday total despite bad reviews. That means there is an interest. Leo could have opened at Rs 5-6 cr and if the content was good, it would have done Rs 10 cr on Dussehra day!” Mankad added.

On a macro level, Bihar-based exhibitor Vishek Chauhan says, the Tamil film industry has got it “all wrong” and are short selling their films. “It happened with Jailer and it is happening with Leo. If you have big stars like Rajinikanth, Vijay, Ajith, who can draw in the audiences in huge numbers, why is there so much urgency to sell it to OTT platforms so early? Let the film utilise its full potential.”

At Chauhan’s Roopbani Cinema in Bihar’s Purnea district, the morning show is “almost full” and he has four shows running throughout the day. “There is genuine demand for the film. With a little bit of push from the Hindi makers, there would have been a larger impact as well,” he added.

Raj Bansal echoed his sentiment and said the advance booking across the world for Leo is “phenomenal”. According to him, in North India, action works very well and Leo would have been the perfect film to stamp Vijay as one of the biggest stars from South here. “Vijay is also a known face, may not be as much as Jr NTR, Ram Charan or others, but this film–with a very good director like Lokesh Kanagaraj–would have definitely taken a very good opening, do doubt in that,” Bansal said.

The way out for now, Chauhan said, is to think through the decision of the OTT window, so that it ultimately only benefits the audience who are eager to watch films but may not find the right medium.

“PVR Inox Cinepolis are pretty much fair to not screen the Hindi version, but they are screening Tamil, Telugu, Malayalam versions there. They know that not screening the Hindi version won’t really dent them as much as screening the Tamil and Telugu version would benefit them.

“That would be 90 percent of their business. Probably the makers realised that 90 percent of their business is going to come from Tamil, Telugu, Kanada, Malayalam, so why should they waive off their 4-week window and reduce their money from OTT? My assessment is, looking at the advances, if they had done the 8-week window, Hindi would have surprised them,” Chauhan concluded.