Udhayanidhi Stalin’s Red Giant Movies to distribute Ajith’s Thunivu?

What could have gone wrong?

Sources revealed that Lalit Kumar, who co-produced Vijay’s Master, was hit by the Covid guidelines and inconsistent delay in the shooting. Though he managed to recover his money, he did not make any profits.

Officially, Vijay’s uncle S Xavier Britto is the producer of Master, while Lalith and Vijay’s manager Jagadish co-produced it. Lalith distributed the film himself under his Seven Screen Studio banner. Following this, Vijay agreed to compensate Lalith Kumar.

Extremely happy to be part of this family.
( Was waiting for the official news from the production before me saying anything about it. ) @actorvijay @directorvamshi #DilRaju #Varisu #Varisudu #Vijay66 pic.twitter.com/BcfuWgFTDq

— KhushbuSundar (@khushsundar) October 26, 2022

In fact, the actor reportedly asked Sun Pictures, who produced his Beast, to give the distribution rights of the movie to Lalith. However, Red Giant Movies bagged the rights of Beast.

Yet another reason, sources said, is that Red Giant Movies recently tweeted a photo with its employees and listed out the hit films it had distributed over the years. Surprisingly, Vijay’s Beast was missing!

Soon, Vijay’s fans took to social media to vent their anger. Apparently, the actor too was upset with the act.

The issue with Red Giant Movies

Meanwhile, a little birdie revealed, though the Tamil Nadu theatrical rights of KGF-2 were owned by Dream Warriors, Red Giant Movies too owned the rights in some areas. The distribution company released the Kannada film simultaneously with Beast.

When Beast failed to perform well at the box office, Red Giant Movies reportedly let KGF-2 take over those screens.

According to a leading trade distributor, Red Giant Movies has so far been playing a fair game. It has not indulged in any arm-twisting by using its political power.

Team #Sardar wishes you all a very happy blockbuster Deepavali! May your life be filled with light & happiness! @Karthi_Offl @Prince_Pictures @Udhaystalin @Psmithran @gvprakash @RaashiiKhanna_ @lakku76 @rajishavijayan @kalaignartv_off @SonyMusicSouth pic.twitter.com/DwG5QAd2k0

— Red Giant Movies (@RedGiantMovies_) October 24, 2022

It has been promptly giving a share of the collections and keeping everything transparent.

This affected a group of mediators who thrive on booking theatres for distributors. They, in turn, are out to fish in troubled waters. The drift between Udhayanidhi Stalin and Vijay Thalapathy came as a boon to these disgruntled elements.

This Diwali, Red Giant Movies distributed Karthi’s Sardar which became a bumper hit unlike Sivakarthikeyan’s Prince, produced by GN Anbu Chezhiyan’s Gopuram Films.

What does trade say?

Vijay Thalapahty in ‘Varisu’, which is releasing for Pongal 2023. (7screenstudio/Twitter)

Trade analysts believe that two stars shouldn’t compete with each other at the box office for festivals because the audience became choosy. Had Prince and Sardar been released in a week’s gap, Prince could have fared better despite its lesser entertainment quotient.

They cited the case of producer-distributor Thanu who released Dhanush’s Naane Varuvean at the same time Mani Ratnam’s Ponniyin Selvan-1 was released.

Theatre owners pointed out that the tickets of Prince and Sardar were sold for ₹190 in the first week, which proved counter-productive. Advance bookings were low and the audience waited for word-of-mouth reviews.

In the case of Ponniyin Selvan-1, Mani Ratnam insisted that price rises in multiplexes should be avoided and this helped people to book tickets in large numbers.

Varisu producers announced that the Germany rights of the flick have already been sold.

Meanwhile, the dispute in UK-Canada areas between distributors is yet to be sorted out. Apparently, it affected the distribution of PS-1.