James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water is not being screened in Tamil Nadu after theatre owners refused Disney’s terms of sharing 70% of revenue. However, the exhibitors are hopeful.
Avatar 2 screening in Tamil Nadu
‘Avatar: The Way of Water’ has hit cinemas across the world today (Dec 16), however, several exhibitors in Tamil Nadu have refused to screen the Hollywood film.
Ruban Mathivanan of GK Cinemas, Porur, said, “The distribution partner of ‘Avatar 2’ in Tamil Nadu has demanded a higher percentage of share for the film, which is drastically high compared to any other Hollywood film. We (GK Cinemas) decided to skip ‘Avatar 2’. I know a few other theatre owners who spent lakhs to upgrade theatres, including changing projectors, which cost about Rs 1 crore. What a shame.” reported ETimes.
70% revenue
Rakesh Gowthaman, the owner of Chennai’s popular twin-screen Vetri Theatres, was very excited about the release of Avatar 2. And he also undertook an expensive renovation of his theatres to support the visual grandeur of the James Cameron directorial.
“They (the producers) are asking 10 percent more than the usual term. We said we will give 5 percent more as a special case for Avatar 2. But, they didn’t agree. We usually pay 55 percent share in the first week. This time, we offered 60 percent,” Rakesh told Indianexpress.
Very disappointed that #AvatarTheWayOfWater will not be playing at @agscinemas as we could not agree to the terms offered to us. Will definitely miss watching this film on the big screen.
— Archana Kalpathi (@archanakalpathi) December 15, 2022
Avatar 2 has been released in Tamil Nadu on about 300 screens. Many single screens have surrendered and agreed to the terms demanded by the producers.
The film’s producers had also faced the same problem with exhibitors in Kerala. The Film Exhibitors United Organisation of Kerala announced that it won’t screen the film in Kerala on the new profit-sharing terms. However, the parties resolved the issue after the exhibitors agreed to give 60 percent in profits. But, the makers were not ready to make the same concessions for exhibitors in Tamil Nadu.
