NO NEW RELEASES FROM APRIL

April will see film business touching an all-time low. Cricket matches, elections and now, the dispute between producers and distributors on one side and multiplexes on the other, which remains unresolved to this date. There's no solution in sight yet.

According to producer/distributors, the multiplexes are not willing to accept rationalised terms for all films in India, like it's done in the rest of the world. Everywhere, the terms for all films are always the same, regardless of how big or small the film is, hence there is never any dispute between the studios and multiplexes.

I've been told that in U.K., the terms for all Hollywood and Hindi films, whether it's a Tom Cruise starrer or an Abhay Deol film, the sharing is 50% for every week. Ditto for UAE. In U.S.A., the terms for all Hollywood and Hindi films are 60% in Week 1, 50% in Week 2 and 40% in Week 3.

In India, the multiplex culture has just evolved and now that the industry is growing, the producers/distributors have decided that fighting over terms with multiplexes only harms the business of films and industry at large. In view of this, the producers/distributors are trying to solve the issue once and for all.

Sadly, the producers/distributors and multiplexes haven't been able to reach a consensus over issues such as payments, number of shows allotted to distributors and of course, the terms.

Hence, the producers/distributors have decided not to market or release any new films [that were slated for release from April onwards], until the multiplexes decide to sort out the issue. As things stand today, there are no releases planned from April onwards. But if the issue does get solved, it will take at least 6 [six] weeks to release the fresh lot of films, since that much time is usually devoted to market a film prior to its release. Which means, if the issue is resolved today [March 4], expect new releases only from April 17 onwards.

Let's hope the two warring sides sort out the issue ASAP.