The countdown to the theatrical release of Mohanlal’s L2: Empuraan has begun. The highly awaited film has already shattered records with its pre-sales and is set to become the biggest Malayalam grosser during the Eid festive in the first week.
L2: Empuraan, a sequel to 2019's ‘Lucifer’, will be released on Thursday, March 27 in Malayalam, Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. It will be the first Malayalam movie to be released on IMAX.
The Mohanlal-starrer is already the biggest Malayalam opener, thanks to its pre-sales. According to industry tracker Sacnilk, the pre-sales of Empuraan on the opening day surpassed ₹35 crore, and crossed ₹50 crore gross for the entire opening weekend at the worldwide box office, with two days still left for the release.
Empuraan is the first Malayalam movie to hit ₹50 crore in sales before its release. At the overseas box office, Empuraan's pre-sales gross is nearing $4 million (₹30+ crore gross), while domestic sales are ₹23-plus crore gross.
The arrival of Empuraan is proving to be a lifeline for the Malayalam film industry. Among the films released in 2025 so far, only three have managed to recover their investment. With theatres running near-empty, even the additional sources of income they used to rely on had dried up.
Now, with Empuraan hitting the screens, theatres are seeing a turnaround across the board. There's been a significant jump in the revenue from advertisements shown before films — a key source of theatre income.
Most of the films that released in February ended up with heavy losses. One example is Love Dale, which was made on a budget of ₹1.6 crore but earned just ₹10,000.
It’s in the middle of such a bleak scenario that Mohanlal and his team have stepped in with Empuraan. The film’s success might also boost other movies set for release during the holiday season.
With two days left for the Empuraan's release, the movie is heading towards ₹70 crore bookings for the weekend and ₹40-45 crore gross for the first day globally, reported Sacnilk.
Sacnilk said the movie is guaranteed to open with ₹50+ crores gross worldwide, a milestone no one saw coming.
Sacnilk reported that Empuraan has already recorded the biggest collection in many countries for a Malayalam film.
In Germany, Empuraan's advance sales have crossed the lifetime collection of the recent mega blockbuster Pushpa 2 starring Allu Arjun.
The franchise follows Mohanlal’s Stephen Nedumpally, aka Khureshi-Ab’raam, an enigmatic political figure embroiled in a battle for power after a political leader's death. The 2019 film was a major commercial and critical success, earning praise for its action sequences, drama, and Mohanlal’s performance.
L2: Empuraan is scripted by Murali Gopy, who also features in the movie alongside Manju Warrier, Tovino Thomas, Indrajith Sukumaran, Saniya Iyappan and Arjun Das. The film also stars Game of Thrones actor Jerome Flynn.
