Posted:
Producers surrender, but multiplexes mum
Multiplex owners have held firm in their stand-off against Bollywood, forcing the producers to back off from most of their demands.
While the producers have been hinting at an end to their strike, multiplex owners brushed off talk of resolution and said that they remained where they had stood on the question of profit sharing.
"Let them bring one major film out and it will all collapse," said one multiplex chain owner, who has held this view from the first day. Star Box Office spoke to three major chains on Friday and all three declined official comment, but said they were pleased at the way things were progressing.
The producers had demanded a 50 per cent share of profit for the duration of the film. This had been the primary demand and it was comprehensively rejected. A compromise pushed by the producers early this month was a ratio of 50 per cent of the first week, 45 per cent of the next week and 40 per cent for the third week. That too did not fly.
The second compromise that Bollywood made was to offer a 50: 42.5: 35. But this also was rejected to their surprise.
Reports said a 50: 42.5: 32.5 formula had been accepted by all, but even this is not certain. "It has been put to us, and now we must respond," said the multiplex owner. Even though the producers' strike has all but collapsed and their gambit to strong-arm the multiplexes failed comprehensively, the matter might still not go through. This is because some multiplex owners, scenting blood, are unwilling to let go the 2.5 per cent, and that too in the second and third week, which the producers say they will be happy with.
Most Bollywood movies are thinned-out or off the screen by week three so it is unlikely that this will remain a sticking point, and the majority of multiplex owners are now inclined to sign the deal.
Vashu Bhagnani, whose son Jackky's debut Kal Kissne Dekha has been hanging because of the strike, himself made a last-ditch attempt to convince the multiplexes to throw the producers a bone.
The ball is now with the multiplexes, who must announce their approval of the additional two and a half per cent for releases beginning with next week's. What is now likely to come is an agreement which more or less reverts to the earlier profit sharing ratio, and that means that Bollywood's strike failed.
Multiplex owners have held firm in their stand-off against Bollywood, forcing the producers to back off from most of their demands.
While the producers have been hinting at an end to their strike, multiplex owners brushed off talk of resolution and said that they remained where they had stood on the question of profit sharing.
"Let them bring one major film out and it will all collapse," said one multiplex chain owner, who has held this view from the first day. Star Box Office spoke to three major chains on Friday and all three declined official comment, but said they were pleased at the way things were progressing.
The producers had demanded a 50 per cent share of profit for the duration of the film. This had been the primary demand and it was comprehensively rejected. A compromise pushed by the producers early this month was a ratio of 50 per cent of the first week, 45 per cent of the next week and 40 per cent for the third week. That too did not fly.
The second compromise that Bollywood made was to offer a 50: 42.5: 35. But this also was rejected to their surprise.
Reports said a 50: 42.5: 32.5 formula had been accepted by all, but even this is not certain. "It has been put to us, and now we must respond," said the multiplex owner. Even though the producers' strike has all but collapsed and their gambit to strong-arm the multiplexes failed comprehensively, the matter might still not go through. This is because some multiplex owners, scenting blood, are unwilling to let go the 2.5 per cent, and that too in the second and third week, which the producers say they will be happy with.
Most Bollywood movies are thinned-out or off the screen by week three so it is unlikely that this will remain a sticking point, and the majority of multiplex owners are now inclined to sign the deal.
Vashu Bhagnani, whose son Jackky's debut Kal Kissne Dekha has been hanging because of the strike, himself made a last-ditch attempt to convince the multiplexes to throw the producers a bone.
The ball is now with the multiplexes, who must announce their approval of the additional two and a half per cent for releases beginning with next week's. What is now likely to come is an agreement which more or less reverts to the earlier profit sharing ratio, and that means that Bollywood's strike failed.
Link http://www.starboxoffice.com/newsDetails.aspx?xfile=2009/May/News_20090529_212
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