Ugly War Between HAIDER And BANG BANG Begins With Screen Distribution

When two big films are all set to clash at the box-office, the number of screens each one will get is a matter of issue. This Friday (2nd Oct), Shahid Kapoor starrer ‘Haider’ and Hrithik Roshan starrer ‘Bang Bang’ will be clashing at the box-office; and as expected, issues pertaining to the number of screens got by each of this film is cropping up.

Tuesday, 30th Sept 2014,2:42 PM IST

When two big films are all set to clash at the box-office,the number of screens each one will get is a matter of issue. This Friday (2ndOct), Shahid Kapoor starrer ‘Haider’ and Hrithik Roshan starrer ‘Bang Bang’will be clashing at the box-office; and as expected, issues pertaining to the number of screens got by each of this film is cropping up.

It is learnt that the distributors of both the films are asking for more screens than their competitor from the theatre owners; and if they don’t do so, the distributors won’t release their next film in the respective theatres.

Talking about the same, VP of Cinema Owners Association, Nitin Datar said, "I have heard that both Fox Star Studios(‘Bang Bang’) and UTV Motion Pictures (‘Haider’) are threatening to withdraw business from us in the future if we do not give in to their demands. We hope to resolve this ugly war soon. Both parties simply refuse to share the shows equally."

Distributor Vinay Choksi revealed, "The single screens are more inclined towards ‘Bang Bang’."

The owner of Gaiety, Galaxy and Maratha Mandir, Manoj Desai, said "But I am upset with the film's producer for demanding an extra percentage of profit from ticket sales. That's why I didn't open advance booking on Monday as is usual."

Even the multiplexes are facing the same issue. Head of Operations at Cinemax(Andheri West), Arpan Datta said that they had opened the advance booking, but later stopped it.

CEO of Fox Star Studios, Vijay Singh said, "‘Bang Bang’ will be the biggest Bollywood release across the world and the advance bookings validate the strong buzz. Negotiations are on and we will reveal the exact number of screens on Wednesday. As of now, it's releasing in over 4,500 screens worldwide."

On the other hand, Aparna Pandey, VP and Head of Marketing and Distribution,Disney India, said, "We have planned a release across 1100 theatres in India for ‘Haider’. Our showcasing will be based on our mapping of the theatre's location and the audience we are targeting."