Yash's 'Toxic' sets box office buzz on fire before release

Kannada superstar Yash is set to return to the big screen after four years with Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-Ups, and the film is already generating a strong box-office buzz ahead of its release.

Advance bookings opened in India on Friday (August 21), and more than 473,000 tickets were sold in less than two days, according to Indian media reports.

The pace of sales has raised expectations of a strong opening for the Geetu Mohandas-directed film.

NDTV reported that advance bookings for the film's opening day have already generated more than Rs 27 crore in India. However, the figure includes certain blocked seats not available to the general public. Excluding those seats, the confirmed advance-booking revenue stands at more than Rs 18 crore.

Karnataka, Yash's home state, leads the advance-booking race, with ticket sales exceeding Rs 14 crore. Maharashtra ranks second, generating nearly Rs 2.5 crore in advance sales.

The film is also attracting significant interest overseas. Advance bookings began in several international markets days earlier, with ticket sales in the United States reportedly reaching around Rs 10 crore. Complete figures from other international markets are yet to be released.

With the strong pre-release response, Toxic is expected to make a major impact on its opening day and could even challenge the opening-day record of Yash’s previous blockbuster, KGF: Chapter 2. Released in 2022, the film grossed Rs 164 crore worldwide on its first day.

Toxic also stars Kiara Advani, Nayanthara, Rukmini Vasanth, Huma Qureshi, Tara Sutaria, Akshay Oberoi and Sudev Nair.