Big Diwali release Ram Setu starring Akshay Kumar was missing in many cinemas in places like Lucknow, Delhi, Agra and Rishikesh due to a disagreement between Zee Studios, the distributor of the film, and single-screen theatres on show sharing.
The film’s release coincided with that of another big Bollywood venture, Thank God starring Ajay Devgn. This led to a quandary over which movie to screen when, leading to the distributor striking off names of cinemas to screen the film.
Moneycontrol has reached out to Zee Studios and the story will be updated with their comments when shared.
“Two films released together and the distributor of Ram Setu asked for more number of shows as the film is a big-ticket venture. On the other hand, the makers of Thank God wanted 50 percent of shows in single screens. We suggested giving two shows to Thank God and three shows to Ram Setu. While makers of Thank God agreed, Zee Studios did not as they wanted four out of five shows. Later, they agreed for three shows but wanted three regular shows that means shows after 12 pm,” said a single-screen exhibitor in Delhi who didn’t wish to be named.
He said that in Delhi cinemas a three-show film gets the 10 am, 3.30 pm and 9.30 pm slots, and movies that get two shows get 12.30 pm and 6.30 pm.
“Cinemas in our region were not given shows of Ram Setu and around 15 theatres were blocked. We ran only Thank God in all shows,” the exhibitor said. He added that while such issues arise when two big films release on the same day, things usually get resolved before the release.
Missed opportunity
Missing out on a big Diwali release has affected single-screen cinemas that were expecting a pick-up in business during the holiday period after the weak performance of Bollywood films in the last few months.
A single-screen cinema owner from Uttar Pradesh highlighted the issue. “Every cinema has a set audience so our audience who wanted to watch Ram Setu was deprived of it because they won’t be going to a distant theatre to watch the film. They will rather wait for the film’s OTT (over the top platform) release. People had also posted on our Facebook page asking why Ram Setu is not playing in our cinema.”
But he added that Hollywood venture Black Adam, which released on October 20, is getting good traction with 80 percent occupancy on day seven in his single-screen property. The English offering earned close to Rs 30 crore in five days.
A Twitter user on October 24 posted a screenshot of a movie booking site and questioned why there were no shows for Ram Setu in Delhi-NCR’s Liberty Cinema.
Some good, share-yielding single-screen cinemas were left out by distributors of Ram Setu, said film trade analyst Komal Nahta in a note.
Manoj Desai, executive director of Mumbai’s Maratha Mandir cinema hall, recently told a Bollywood news portal that the show sharing dispute along with late advance booking is destroying the theatre business on Diwali.
He said that advance booking of both Ram Setu and Thank God opened late due to show sharing issues. Advance booking in multiplexes also started late from October 24, a day before the release. Advances for films usually open six to seven days prior to release.
The Delhi exhibitor said that this is happening at a time when the movie business is struggling. “Business is 50 percent less than pre-COVID times. We had only three to four good films including RRR, KGF 2, The Kashmir Files and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2. For the two new releases, Ram Setu and Thank God, there was no excitement and the advance bookings were poor.”
The exhibitor from Uttar Pradesh said that in pre-COVID times, the day following Diwali used to see all five houseful shows but that kind of business was not seen this time. “Last year Sooryavanshi also did decent business with four out of five shows being houseful. Business is not 100 percent back on track, it will take time. Mediocre, average and above-average films are not doing the business they used to do pre-COVID.”
Box office impact
Late opening of advance booking and some cinemas not running Ram Setu will have a 10 percent impact on the business of the film, said the Delhi exhibitor.
While the Akshay Kumar-starrer has put up a decent number at the box office of over Rs 34 crore in three days, the film saw a 25-35 percent drop on day three. Nahta said that the drop is significant considering the second and third day of the film’s release were holidays.
“Nowadays, business, especially for Hindi films, is only of four or five days at the box office unless it is a film like KGF 2 which worked three to four weeks,” said the exhibitor from Uttar Pradesh.
While theatre owners are betting on the festive period to boost box office business, the slow start to Diwali releases will be a concern as the Hindi box office business is expected to see a double-digit drop in Q3FY23.
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