Superstar Rajinikanth?s blockbuster ?Sivaji The Boss? has proved to be tough boss to its small-budget successors. Due to the film?s postponed but saturation release, several small budget movies had to be withheld and are now being released in a hurry before the festive fever catches on.
About 22 Tamil films including dubbed versions of other language movies are slated for release within a month?s time. Five or six films are released every Friday this month to gain as much profit as possible.
A Venkatramani, director, GV Films Ltd, said, Sivaji was planned to be released in April but got delayed till July. No major movie was released during that 60-day period, fearing that Sivaji will clean sweep the rest. The blockbuster went for a saturation release and so producers could not release their small-budget movies because of shortage of screens, he added. Sivaji was released in 17 screens at a time, in Chennai alone.
Agrees R Venkatakrishnan, chief operating officer, Tamil Nadu, Pyramid Saimira Theatre Ltd. Sivaji was equivalent to four big, hit movies, he said.
?Pyramid owns about 200 screens in Tamil Nadu alone. We need to fill the theatres with content. We either buy existing content (new releases) or help producers release pending films. That is what is happening now,? he added.
Moreover, big-budget movies starring young heroes like Vijay, Vikram and Dhanush are planned to be released for Diwali. The small-time movies will not be able to compete with the star-studded releases as well. Venkatramani said, ?You can?t help it. The producers are trying to release the movies before the content becomes stale. They are hoping to run the movies for as many days as possible before Diwali.?
If released now, a movie with a budget of about Rs 1.5 crore to Rs 2 crore, can hope at least 30% to 40% returns from distribution and telecast rights, he added.