With just days to go before Rajinikanth’s Kochadaiiyaan opens, distributors have confirmed that 420 screens across TN have booked the film till Sunday. This is a far cry from the Superstar’s previous releases like Endhiran and Sivaji, which opened on close to 1,250 screens in Tamil Nadu alone. Explaining that talks were still on, a member of the production house said, “Talks with distributors are on and more theatres are likely to ask for prints in the next two days.” Kovai and Salem circles are leading in demand for the film with 80 and 60 screens taking on the film in the two cities. In Chennai 36 theatres will screen the film.
The theatre list for Endhiran, directed by Shankar and released in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi, was released almost 2 weeks prior to the film’s release. One of the reasons why things have been running to the last minute is because there has been unrest in trade circles about whether the `125 crore motion-capture animated film will release on time.
“The response from distributors abroad has been brilliant and we are very excited that it is the first Indian movie to open in 3D on so many screens in the US,” she added. At the very least, the movie will release on 80 screens in the US.
Another reason for the slow theatre count is that Soundarya Rajinikanth is still finishing up minor animation work on the final film and has not begun full-scale promotion as yet. Prints are expected to be dispatched late on Wednesday for overseas markets.
Initially, Kochadaiiyaan’s producers Medione Global Entertainment had announced that they were targeting at least 1,000 screens worldwide -- a number that they ought to reach with some good fortune.
Also Read: