Bollywood producers reach deal with multiplexes, end strike

Mumbai, June 5 (IANS) The row between Bollywood producers and multiplex owners over revenue sharing came to an end as the two parties reached a deal here early Friday, industry sources said.

After about four months of negotiations, the two parties reached a consensus over the rationalisation of revenue sharing for forthcoming films, the sources said.

'Strike Over. Movies to release next week...Awaiting more details,' said a text to IANS from production house UTV Motion pictures that also has a distribution arm.

Joginder Mahajan, a Delhi-based distributor confirmed the news with further details.

'The strike has finally come to an end late in the night and movies will start coming June 12 onwards,' he told IANS.

'The final settlement has been reached which is 50, 42, 35 and 30 percent for the first, second, third and fourth week respectively for all movies and 52, 45, 38 and 30 percent respectively for all blockbuster movies that manage to collect more than Rs.17.5 crore ($3.5 million) only at the six leading multiplex chains,' he added.

The top national multiplex chains in India are PVR, Big, Inox, Fame, Cinemax and Fun.

The meeting between the two parties was held at the Yash Raj Studios and the deal was first inked by Big cinemas represented by its chairman Amit Khanna.

Sources also inform that all other multiplex chains were against signing the pact initially but followed suit later.

The movies to be released next Friday are Big pictures-Vashu Bhagnani co-produced 'Kal Kissne Dekha' and Mithun Chakraborty starrer 'Zor Laga Ke Haiya'.

The row between producers and multiplex owners over revenue sharing began in February. As a result, producers and distributors decided not to push any new releases in multiplexes after April 4.