Vijay - SRK in Atlee Lion confirmed - Details below

Thalapathy Vijay will come for 15 minutes in the underproduction SRK- Nayanthara film Lion directed by Atlee, according to Umar Sandhu censor board member of Dubai and film journalist. In a tweet he said that SRK is started shooting again and will juggle the dates between Rajkumar and Atlee film.
Umar had been part of the censor panel in Dubai that censored Beast. He tweeted - #Vijay's #Beast Passed Censor Test & got U/A Certificate without any Cut !! Reports are Terrific Umair Sandhu @UmairSandu · Apr 6 #ShahRukhKhan will start shooting for #RajkumarHirani movie from next week. #Atlee movie in next few days. @iamsrk will be juggling among the two. Such an amazing lineup along with #Pathaan. Sandhu shared his review of the film on social media and gave it four stars. Posting the review on his Instagram Story, Sandhu wrote, “Vijay looks very dashing and his performance is outstanding. He is brilliant in every frame. Engaging Story and Screenplay, Dialogues are Clap Worthy. Nelson’s direction is simple and he shows that he has the ability to handle a film of this scale. He also joins the dots in the narrative neatly. On the whole, Beast is a paisa-vasool action entertainer which has style as well as enough twists and turns to keep the viewers engrossed." (sic)

AP CM Jagan to grant ticket hike for KGF2 ? - Beast Hindi for Rs 4 crores

The biggest expectation from Tollywood film trade is that Andhra Pradesh CM Jagan will grant permission for KGF 2 makers ( distributors) to make a hike of Rs 50 per ticket in the State.Exhibitors are told to not open advance booking counters as the order from CM office is expected any time. KGF producers produced recods to show that certain portions of the film were shot in coastal Andhra regions and hence sought permission to hike the ticket price. KGF producers who are also producer of Prabhas `Salaar' will put a trailor with KGF 2 as bonus and also draw Prabhas fans. Nizam area has gone for a record price of Rs 70 crores as per trade sources. This amount for a non Telugu hero film is given on the assurance that the area collections will be safe guarded in case of a shortfall by `Salaar' film collections. Including coastal areas Andhra alone is done a Rs 100 crores business, The Hindi advance booking shows that the film will get a Rs 40 + crore net collections on Day one. The earlier goral post was RRR opening but now it has shifted to Baahubali 2 opening from today. Beast the Vijay film dubbed in Hindi is sold for Rs 4 crores. This is a reasonable amount and can be easily got feels trade. The whole weekend being a oliday starting with Ambedkar Jayanti and Easter holidays, the film will collect as the songs have reaced widely and if the content is great, it might be a slow sleeper hit. KGF 2 distributors are Hombale Films Through KRG Studios and Jayanna Films (Kannada) Excel Entertainment & AA Films (Hindi) Varahi Chalana Chitram (Telugu) Dream Warrior Pictures (Tamil) Prithviraj Productions (Malayalam)

KGF 2 beats Beast on advance booking except Tamil Nadu

Exhibitors in Tamil Nadu are happy with the advance booking of Beast but in Kerala- Karnataka and AP/ TS , KGF shows a marked difference. As expected, KGF 2 is creating a storm at Hindi advance booking counters that opened on April 7th. 80 % of the occupancy in Tamil Nadu is booked as per reports from exhibitors of Beast in Tamil Nadu. This on expected lines and close to 800 theaters are screening the film and around 250- 300 are screening KGF 2. Big screens in multiplexes in TN are for Beast. KGF 2 getting 200 - 300 screens for a start is good enough for S R Prabhu of Dream Warrior Pictures , distributor of KGF 2. Dream Warrior had distributed Karthi's Kaithi opposite Bigil with limited screens and made money as the film got postive reviews continued to hold against Bigil. The box office of Kerala shows a trend of KGF 2 being scheduled for fan shows starting from 4 AM on April 14th. By going with the advance booking numbers, trade says that KGF 2 on opening day will cross the entire collection of KGF 1 done in it's entire run. Beast as expected for a Vijay film is doing the business it expected. In Karnataka, almost 90 % of the screens are with KGF 2 as the Telugu- Hindi- Tamil prints with the original Kannada version will be playing in biggest box office area of Bengaluru. Beast opening is considerably dimmed.In AP/ TS, too the advance booking for KGF 2 is bigger than Beast. Beast team director Nelson - music director Anirudh and Pooja Hegde took part in a press meet to promote the film. In Bollywood, the trade is watching whether KGF 2 will beat RRR opening. By the rate the booking is moving, KGF might not reach RRR opening . The opening might be anything around Rs 15 crores. Beast in comparison might get a opening of Rs 3 crores, Sadly nobody is talking of Shahid Kapoor Jersey, a straight Hindi film , remake of Telugu film with Pushpa hero Allu Arjun's father as co- producer.

Valimai distributors want Ajith special promo video after preview ?

 As Valimai release date nears ( Feb 25th), distributors and theater owners have asked Madurai Anbu to get a special promo video featuring Ajith speaking directly to audience. This comes after a few leading film distributors saw Valimai at a special screening in Chennai.

One reason cited is that the marketing of  Vijay's Beast Arabic Kuthu song by Sun TV and director Nelson. The first video as teaser with Vijay's voice and later  the song- dance itself has created a hype that has gone beyond the expected reach. A video with  Ajith himself speaking directly to the camera with a behind the scenes shots should do the trick feel the Valimai buyers. Also no song ( at least one) by now has gone viral.

As expected Ajith has said a NO. His argument is that a film will run on merit and not on fan hysteria and he has never catered to fan clubs or that culture. The insecurity or fear that  gripped theater owners after Vijay Beast kuthu song is misplaced says trade analysts. The high stakes running is one reason for the fear ast hey cannot afford any little drop in collections .

There is a talk that  it has only bike stunts- guns , the film has nothing much to offer to an audience that looks beyond Star Ajith or  Thala Ajith. Boney Kapoor sold AP/ TS for Rs4 crores but now he has to settle for half the price - Pawan Kalyan - Rana 's Bheema Nayakalu is coming on same day. In Hindi, he knows that Valimai would get little as hyped up Gangubhai would be first choice.

A few making of Valimai scenes are being put together to increase the hype of the film and keep the tempo for next four days. Boney got daughter Jhanvi to promote on social media and hopes to get more like Ajay Devgn - Udhaynidhi  Stalin to join.as they have done films for him. Any way trade is not worried as there is a safety net - Boney - Ajith's third venture that starts on March 9th at Hyderabad. Boney tells Pinkvilla that there would be a fourth too.