Thug Life advance booking: Kamal Haasan's film to open with ₹12.46 cr, 2 lakh+ tickets sold despite Karnataka blockage

Thug Life advance booking: Kamal Haasan's film Thug Life is ready to debut on Thursday despite no show across Karnataka. The actor recently found himself at the centre of a controversy, which led to the film being blocked from release in the state. However, the film is set to see a decent opening day.

Thug Life advance booking

However, missing out on the Karnataka circuit is undoubtedly going to cost Kamal Haasan who is also jointly backing the film.

According to film industry tracker Sacnilk, Thug Life has collected a gross of ₹5.02 crore from ticket sales in all languages. The film will be out in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu languages.

It will also be available in IMAX 2D format.

Considering all formats, Kamal Haasan's film has so far sold 2,95,456 tickets for 10,678 shows across India, excluding Karnataka.

Considering blocked seats, Thug Life is set to see a massive opening with ₹12.46 crore gross earnings.

Thug Life performance in India, excluding Karnataka

The film is set to clash with Sajid Nadiawala's Housefull 5 which has now generated way less money from advance booking. The movie is likely to premiere with ₹5.67 crore gross earnings.

While Karnataka is out of the picture for Thug Life, states like Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, followed by Gujarat, top the list with maximum revenue from the advance booking for the first day in all versions.

Thug Life: Makers, cast

Thug Life is a gangster action drama film, directed by Mani Ratnam. It is co-written by Kamal Haasan, who is also jointly producing the film under his banner Raaj Kamal Films International. Madras Talkies and Red Giant Movies are also backing the film.

Besides Kamal Haasan, it also features Silambarasan, Trisha Krishnan, Abhirami, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Ashok Selvan, Joju George, Nassar, Ali Fazal, Rohit Saraf and Baburaj.

The film marks the reunion of Haasan and Ratnam after they collaborated on their 1987 film, Nayakan.

The film landed in controversy after Haasan said, "Kannada was born out of Tamil” during the film event.

Thug Life early predictions

Predicting the fate of the film amid the row, film trade insider Ramesh Bala posted on X, formerly Twitter, “The anticipation is huge for the biggest film of the year #ThugLife. The promotional material impressed everyone. We can expect, solid action and Phenomenal performances from leads #KamalHaasan, #SilambarasanTR, #Trisha, #JojuGeorge & others. With themes rumored to explore action, identity, and rebellion, #ThugLife is expected to be more than just a commercial entertainer. Excited for tomorrow.”

However, trade analyst Sumit Kadel claimed underwhelming numbers for the Thug Life Hindi version. He wrote, “Advance booking for #KamalHaasan’s #ThugLife is underwhelming in the Hindi belt, with current projections indicating a Day 1 opening in the ₹80L–1Cr range across North India. The film has just Thursday to register any meaningful biz before #Housefull5 takes over the bulk of showcasing from Friday.”