'Not More Than 60% Share Of Film Collections To Distributors': Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners

Theatre owners in Tamil Nadu have been revolting against the existing revenue share between the distributor and exhibitors and have put up a condition of not paying more than 60 per cent to the producers. Distributors were demanding a share of up to 75 per cent from the theatre owners in the first-week collection of films which are released in Tamil Nadu.

To this, several theatre owners refused to agree with the distribution share. Recently, Thalapathy Vijay’s movie Leo has been released on more than 900 screens in the state and it also became the centre point of this dispute for Tamil Nadu screens.

According to reports, it is said that distributor-exhibitor share was almost 75-25 before the release of Leo. This became a sore point between producers and single-screen theatre owners. However, a well-known producer while talking to Hindu said that the issue has been resolved now. It is said that, in the wake of the Leo affair, the private owners and multiplex owners will soon hold a joint consultation. They have decided to not share more than 60 per cent of the total revenue and they have also imposed a condition that the film should be released in OTT after 8 weeks of its theatrical release.

It has also been reported that they are willing to share a 60-40 ratio only if their latter condition gets accepted. According to reports, they have also decided to pay only 50 per cent of the share amount for films that are scheduled to be released on OTT after 4 weeks of their theatrical release. One of the concerns for theatre owners is the huge loss which they suffer due to flop films.

Due to this dispute, the pre-booking of Leo was postponed until the release of the movie. It was supposed to open a few days before the release but was halted due to disagreement between theatres and producers. As per a Hindu report, the Theatre Owners Association said that a decision was already made collectively to not screen early morning shows to avoid damage to property due to unruly fan behaviour of the people. There have been numerous cases of the same in the past year.