The continuing problem of delayed movie releases is threatening to unsettle the already tottering exhibition business in Tamil Nadu.
Recently, actor Amala Paul’s much-awaited Aadai joined a long list of films that have struggled to release on Friday morning despite positive word of mouth and high expectations among fans. The film released only for the evening shows.
Muscled out
Theatre owners are expressing concern that cancellation of the first few shows of a new film will gradually kill ‘advance booking’ revenues as the audience will not want to book a ticket if there is uncertainty about a movie’s release. The indiscipline is also likely to result in Tamil movies getting muscled out by Hindi, Telugu and Malayalam films in international markets where programming in multiplexes is better organised, say distributors.
Speaking to The Hindu , Udeep Reddy, Managing Director, Mayajaal, said that there has been a significant drop in advance booking revenues. “There has been a drop of at least 30% due to such uncertainty. People don’t book in advance any more for Tamil films as they don’t know if they will release. The momentum is totally lost and confusion persists over the weekend on whether the movie has opened or not, leading to a loss of collections. We also experience several problems during programming,” said Mr. Reddy. He added that there needed to be a collective decision to seek confirmation a few days before the release.
Indiscipline hurts
Nikilesh Surya, Executive Director, Rohini Silver Screens, said that the short-term impact is prime slots going waste along with the added burden of processing last-minute refunds.
“In the last few months, we’ve had more than half a dozen last-minute cancellations and an evident drop in opening day revenue trends. Because of such indiscipline, Tamil movies don’t usually release in many multiplex chains in places like Singapore where movies from better planned industries like Malayalam and Hindi cinema get showcased even though the Tamil diaspora is 10 times larger,” he added.
While theatre owners are hoping for a foolproof system by seeking confirmation of a film’s release on Wednesday itself, veteran exhibitor and distributor, Tiruppur Subramaniam, said that it is not possible to bring all theatre owners to agree to such a diktat when theatres are desperate for audiences. “Let us say that a Vijay movie releases at the last minute. The theatre owners will go ahead and play the film. The ‘rule’ will be broken. This is not in our hands,” he said.
