Rajinikanth-starrer 2.0 may not release in China as HY Media, the film’s distributors in China, are considering backing out. The film was reportedly scheduled to release on July 12.
According to The Tamil Hindu, HY Media is likely to back out as they feel that if the film makes less than 25 million dollars, they will face huge losses. Since Batman, another big-budget Hollywood film opened to poor reception in China the perception is that 2.0 may also not do well.
Moreover, Lion King is also scheduled to release during the same time in China, and 2.0 will not open to as many screens as expected. An official announcement is likely to be made soon. It is also not known yet if the filmmakers will approach other distributors in China.
Last month, it was reported that 2.0 will release in 50,000 screens, which is the biggest release for any foreign language film in China. This was not officially announced by Lyca Productions, and a source close to the production told Silverscreen, “We are yet to get a confirmation on release. In China, the government decides when a movie will release because they are the owners of theatres. We are awaiting confirmation and nothing can be speculated as yet.”
However, AR Rahman, the film’s music composer, shared posters and announced the release. The source said rumours about the film’s release had spread quickly and Rahman also picked it up.
#2Point0InChina ..on 56000 screens … premiere on June 28th .. grand release on July 12th @shankarshanmugh @akshaykumar @rajinikanth pic.twitter.com/WSzj0tQo6e
— A.R.Rahman (@arrahman) June 4, 2019
The mega-budget sci-fi directed by Shankar, released in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu in India last year, in about 10,500 screens. It starred Rajinikanth in the lead as scientist Vassegaran and robot Chitti. Amy Jackson played the female lead. Cinematography was by Nirav Shah and music by AR Rahman.
Indian films are very popular in China, and big Bollywood movies release in about 5,000 screens and are also circulate widely in the piracy circles. Dangal continues to be the highest grossing Indian film, and 3 Idiots, PK, and smaller films like Secret Superstar, Hichki and Hindi Medium earned well at the Chinese box-office. Andhadhun recently crossed the Rs 300-crore mark. Director Suseenthiran announced that his upcoming Tamil film Kennedy Club will release in China, and Ajith Kumar-starrer Nerkonda Paarvai may also release in the country.
