Revenue sharing row: No films in multiplexes from April 4

Mumbai, March 16: Unwilling to compromise on their demands, producers and distributors have decided not to release their movies from April 4 until multiplexes agree to an equal share in revenue."Until the multiplexes agree to the demands proposed by the producers and distributors, the marketing and distribution of all new films set for release from April 4 has been suspended," film maker Mukesh Bhatt told reporters.

The producers have been demanding an equal share in revenue regardless of the star cast or budget for every week a film releases in the multiplexes. "It is a ‘do or die’ situation for us. We have to survive in the industry and so we have been asking for an equal revenue sharing model," Bhatt said. "We spent crores of rupees for making and distributing the movie, that too with a huge risk. They (multiplexes) just have to release it. They earn revenue from various sources like canteen, parking, and advertisers among others. Even then, they have been demanding more revenue share," he said. As far as big-budget films are concerned, in the first week the distributors in `Rest of India` get 48% share while those in Gujarat get 45%, Bhatt added. Industry biggies including Yash Chopra, Mukesh Bhatt, Ramesh Sippy, and Mahesh Bhatt among others came together to ‘defend the interests’ of the film fraternity. Bureau Report