Thanks to the recession and the stand-off between producers and multiplex, theatres the biggest of films under-production are lying unsold.Mumbai: Don’t look for the Tom Hanks-starrer Angels and Demons in your neighbourhood multiplex. The film’s distributor, Sony Pictures, will not release it in multiplexes on Friday in support of the Hindi film producers’ standoff with multiplex owners.
Industry sources said the film, a prequel to The Da Vinci Code, will release only in single-screen theatres. No new Hindi films have been released since April 4 as a result of the strike, but that has not stopped the release of Hollywood films in multiplexes.
But Angels and Demons will be an exception as the producers have made Hindi films, including Saawariya and Straight in India, earlier.
According to a source, UPDF (The United Producers and Distributors Front) pressurised Kercy Daruwala, managing director of the company in India, to withhold the film from multiplexes. Daruwala, however, was unwilling to confirm this. He told DNA, “We are in negotiations with multiplexes. I am not sure about the outcome.”
Ramesh Sippy of UPDF said the film will not release in multiplexes. “The film is on hold. I don’t know what will happen,” he said.
Corroborating this, Utpal Sanghvi, vice-president, programming and distribution, of the multiplex chain Inox, said, “Angels and Demons is not releasing in national and non-national multiplexes. They are asking for a 55% share of the profit, which is impossible. They are definitely doing this in support of the striking Bollywood producers.”
If the film does not release in multiplexes, it could result in huge losses for the distributors as 60-65% of the profit of an English film released in India comes from multiplexes.
