Watching films may be a great stress buster, especially for the youth who spent months preparing for their board examinations.
Watching films may be a great stress buster, especially for the youth who spent months preparing for their board examinations. But, they may have to look for an alternative medium of entertainment if they had planned to enjoy their vacation in the cool comfort of a multiplex.
The ongoing dispute between multiplex owners and film distributors may throw a spanner in their post-exam plans. The latter are adamant on a bigger share in revenue pie but the former are refusing to budge. If the dispute is not sorted out soon, it may result in ‘the end’ of the movie-buffs’ plans as the distributors have threatened to stop release of movies in multiplexes from April 4.
Talking to DNA, president of Gujarat Multiplex Association Manubhai Patel said, “If the release of the movies in multiplexes is stopped, it will definitely result in revenue loss for us but at the same time it will also hurt the producers as there are only a few single-screen cinema halls. Moreover, audience too like to watch movies in a high-tech set-up with good sound system which is not available at single-screen halls.”
Explaining the predicament of multiplex owners, Patel said, “Currently, for the first week, the ratio is divided as 55% of revenue to the multiplex owners (which includes payment of entertainment tax upto 20%) and 45% to producers and distributors. If we reduce our share, ultimately we would be left with nothing.”
Movie distributors and producers are demanding 50% share in revenue for every film released. The multiplex owners say that the current ratio is justified as only big banner films do well for a long time at multiplexes, rest attract film-buffs only during weekends.
Operations manager of R World, Virendra Rahevar, said people avoid going to single-screen theatres as they are out of trend now. “Multiplexes are money churners for distributors as with around four screens, they have the capacity to screen around 15 to 20 shows per day while the theatres can screen only four shows per day,” he added.
According to Neeraj Ahuja, general manager, operations Wide Angle, this is just a pressure tactics by the distributors. “More than 90% of the films produced today are for multiplex audience. This fact will force them to strike a deal with us. Moreover, we can screen Hollywood movies as an alternative,” Ahuja said.
On the other hand, distributor of Shringar Films Raju Shukla said, “The strike may go on for 2-3 weeks. In case it continues for a longer period, the industry is likely to incur heavy loss as there are many good movies lined up for release. However, there are chances that producers may delay the release due to the proposed strike.”
Dhananjay Pattani of Vijayraj distributors predicted that release dates would be affected not only due to the strike but also due to the elections and IPL matches. “No matter how long the fight goes on, both the parties complement each other and have no option but to patch up,” he said.
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