Thursday, April 8, 2021

Will Karnan get released as Dhanush is no Vijay at Box office? Lock Down woes hit Kollywood

Will Karnan starring Dhanush be released on April 9th with a 50% capacity limit for theatres ? The question arises as the MASS opening and push at Box office of Thalapathy Vijay whose Master released to 50% occupancy is not there with Dhanush. Second factor is that the film Karnan has been sold to distributors at prices that are higher than that a Dhanush film at present market rating should be sold. Thirdly as there is no political party in the saddle and with Election Commission still in power, IAS-IPS ( read bureaucrats)  would impose the occupancy rate in theatres. This leaves no scope for violations as it happened in case of Master.

Trade circles say that Dhanush film today can be expected to give a profit share of Rs 12-15 cr to distributors. This figure is arrived from the collections of his past two films. Last release was Ennai Nokki Payyum Thotta directed by Gautham Menon. It was sold to Iswari Ganesh for Rs 18 cr as the film before it was Pattas that gave a profit share of Rs 15 cr to distributors. The Menon film gave Iswari Ganesh only Rs 7 cr !!!.

At this rate, Karnan should have gone not more than Rs 12 cr. Producer Thanu however chose to keep the areas to himself on the ground that his production Asuran with Dhanush had given Rs 10 cr profit from Chennai and Chengalpet. He gave Karnan distribution by taking token amounts. In Chennai, multiplex chain PVR took it and Chengalpet it was divided with Arulpathy ( distributor body chief) taking single screen and PVR the multiplexes. Kovai went to Rajamannar Films. Rockfort took Trichy and Tirunelveli- Kanyakumari went to Zion. Total advances stood at Rs 18.50 cr.

This advances were taken for 100% occupancy. Now with 50% less seats, high upfront money to producer, the distributors are put at great risk. With 100 % occupancy and no competition, Karthi's Sulthan just about put up a good show and did nothing like Master. Dhanush too falls in this bracket.

Yet another important factor that prompted exhibitors to pay more money was that from April 9th inwards till April 19th there is holidays with Tamil New Years day and weekends coming. The new spike in Covid cases would be a damper for holiday crowds since amusement parks- beaches - zoo and tourist places have got restricted entry.

Trade circles feel that Thanu should postpone and wait for the lockdown to ease . The restrictions for night activities is till 11 PM but if things get worse, it might get cut down. This means night shows will be cancelled. After Master, no theatre in the State till Sulthan ,has seen more than 20 % occupancy. Now with Covid scare once again, whether the crowds will come to movie halls is doubtful, says trade.

Rajinikanth and crew flew to Ramoji Film City in Hyderabad much before the official mini lockdown restrictions were announced. Though a GO said to be from Tamil Nadu Govt was circulating on social media, State officials denied that night curfew and stringent lockdown would not be imposed. All shops, eateries, malls, hotels and theatres can function with 50% occupancy. Most of the existing activities have only been curtailed and not shut down. Film shootings too are to continue like now.

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