Bengaluru, Karnataka: The wait for Yash’s Toxic: A Fairy Tale for Grown-ups has entered a new phase, with advance bookings opening across India on Friday and early ticket sales showing strong demand ahead of the film’s August 26 theatrical release.
Within hours of bookings opening, more than 100,000 tickets had been sold through BookMyShow, according to industry tracking. An earlier update from The Indian Express recorded 84,915 tickets sold and about ₹4.10 crore in gross advance sales, showing how quickly the numbers were moving through the day.
Karnataka has emerged as the biggest domestic market in the opening hours. Bengaluru, in particular, has reported a sharp response, with Cinema Express reporting that more than 25,000 tickets were being sold per hour on BookMyShow at one point. Several shows were already filling up across the city soon after bookings began.
The response comes after months of anticipation around the film. Directed by Geetu Mohandas, Toxic stars Yash alongside Kiara Advani, Nayanthara, Huma Qureshi, Tara Sutaria and Rukmini Vasanth. The film is scheduled to release in Kannada, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam, with formats including IMAX, 4DX and Dolby Cinema listed on BookMyShow.
Interest in the film had already been building before actual ticket sales began. BookMyShow crossed one million users marking themselves as interested in Toxic on the platform before nationwide bookings opened. That figure, however, represents audience interest and should not be confused with tickets actually purchased.
The film is also arriving with a large theatrical footprint. Reports have indicated plans for a release across more than 12,000 screens worldwide, underlining the scale of the production and the expectations surrounding Yash’s return to cinemas after KGF: Chapter 2.
The Central Board of Film Certification has cleared the film with an A certificate, meaning it is restricted to adult audiences. The CBFC did not require cuts, although certain word changes and warnings were requested. The film has a reported runtime of more than three hours.
For now, the advance-booking numbers offer an encouraging early signal, but they are not a guarantee of the film’s final box-office performance. Much will depend on how bookings develop over the next few days, the number of shows available, occupancy on release day and the response from audiences after the film reaches theatres.
What is already clear is that Toxic has succeeded in creating substantial curiosity before its release. With bookings now moving quickly, the next number everyone will be watching is the film’s opening-day collection.
