Ajith's Valimai to enter Rs 200 cr club on opening day

Ajith's Valimai will cross the  Rs 100 crore gross collections and touch the Rs 200 cr , if https://dhakshinscreen.blogspot.com/2021/12/malayalam-director-regish-mithila-to.htmlBoney Kapoor and distributor Madurai Anbu have their wishes fulfilled by the Tami Nadu State Government. The producer has applied for a special permission shows from midnight onwards on the morning of release date. 

Theater owners associations have ioin hands in getting Boney Kapoor the special shows. As Madurai Anbu who himself is a exhibitor, the support from single screens owners who are in the majority too is got. Trade sources say that 745 theaters in Tamil Nadu are clients of Qube  digital service provider and all of them would be allotting the maximum screens. 

A poster announcing the release date is to come out. Ajith's lucky day is Thursday  and so January 13 could be the date.  The idea is to start the fan shows by 11.55 PM of Jan 12th and not come on a 13th.

As build up to release , two single tracks have come out. The track with lyrics by Vignesh Shivn ( beau of Nayanthara ) has taken internet by storm.  Within 24 hrs it garnered 2.8 million views. Shivan dedicated the song to his mother as it was about an ode to a mother. Music is by Yuvan. Sung by Sid Sriram.

Heroine is Huma Qureshi and Telugu actor Karthikeya plays the baddie. Directed by H Vinoth, the film deals about illegal bike racing and International subvert activities.

OTT and Hindi dubbing rights saves flop Tamil films

 Laabam and  Thalaivi, two Tamil films, rejected by the  theater going audience , was a profit earner for the producer- thanks to OTT -  Hindi dubbing and  Satellite rights. The main reason for this is presence of  Vijay Sethupathi in Laabam and Kangana Ranaut in Thalaivi who have become the favourite of the OTT  platforms. In case of Vijay Sethupathi, the reason is that his presence as villainy - character actor across multiple languages  and opposite top Stars has given him a pan Indian image and hence the OTT platforms believe that the film of his will get viewers in  non Tamil languages.

The  business details of Laabam is - Rs 10 crores invested by Seven Seas banner and Rs 10 cr remuneration of Vijay Sethupathi. Big payment made-  Rs 2 cr to director Jananathan - Rs 1 cr to Sruthi Haasan and Rs 50 lakhs to Music director D .. On the table profits -  Total Rs 18.50 cr . Breakup : Rs 8 cr from Netflix,  Hindi dubbing rights - Rs 2 cr,  Sun TV - Rs 6 cr and overseas Rs 50 lakhs.  Theater revenue :  Rs 3.5 cr got as MG from distributors for theater release ( though need not be given but  will be refunded since it is a disaster. Close to Rs 1 cr on publicity and Qube charges for distribution by producers in many areas were also added to loss. Out of Rs 6.50 cr on table profit, nearly 5 crores had to be  forgone due to theater loss.  Net Result is that Vijay Sethupathi is left with Rs 5 cr . In short if he was just an actor he would made Rs 10 cr .

If Netflix and Hindi dubbing rights  money was not so huge, Laabam would  have left producer with just Rs 3.5 cr . It was Vijay Sethupathi's pan South presence that saved the day.

Thalaivi was produced  at Rs 75 cr ( including Rs 10 cr incurred for interest due to shooting being stopped due to Covid 19) The film was bought by Zee for Rs 85 crores. The film was certified in Tamil - Telugu versions. Producers made a profit before release.  Zee sold the film on a  profit sharing basis to Trident Arts. Two weeks theater run in Tamil Nadu is sort of no loss - no gain for distributor- Zee.  If  producers had not got the Zee deal, and followed the four week window norm by theaters  plus OTT , they would have got not more more than Rs 45 cr ore from OTT.

Presence of Kangana Ranaut ( said to have been paid  close to Rs 30 crores for dual versions) had got Zee intrested in the Jayalalithaa biopic. Apart from the sale to Netflix and Amazon OTT which gave Rs 42 crore , Zee would market the film's Telegu- Tamil versions in all the four  South languages TV channels it owns. It also will screen in the Zee's multiple Hindi channels.