Beast, the Tamil film starring Vijay, did not release in Karur city, Tamil Nadu on Wednesday owing to a disagreement between exhibitors and distributors over the sales percentage terms.
Speaking to Silverscreen India, Meenakshi Sundaram, who heads the Trichy-Thanjavur zone of the Tamil Nadu Theatres Association association, said, “There are seven screens within Karur’s corporation limits. Of those, we planned to allocate three screens for Beast. As the sales terms did not work for us, we did not release Beast in any of the theatres. So, from tomorrow, all seven screens will play KGF Chapter 2.’’
Noting that there are around 15-16 screens in the Karur district, Sundaram said that apart from those seven within the corporation limits, all other screens are playing Beast as those exhibitors were fine the sales agreement. “Fans and audiences who wish to see the film have gone to theatres in Aravakurichi, Kulithalai and Velur,” he added.
Tirupur Subramaniam, president of the Tamil Nadu Theatres Association, explained, “The sales percentage quoted by the distributors was high and hence these theatre owners did not take up the film for screening. The exhibitors had wanted the sales percentage to be similar to that of Annaatthe and Valimai, but the distributors asked for a higher percentage. Since that was not feasible, the film did not release in these theatres. Aside from that, there is no issue between our association and the distributors.”
About the overall reception for the film, Subramaniam told us there has been a good response from the audience after the initial shows in theatres across the state.
Ahead of the release, Subramaniam had told us that the film would open in 800-850 screens in Tamil Nadu.
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Written and directed by Nelson Dilipkumar, Beast is produced by Sun Pictures. The invasion thriller, which takes place in a Chennai shopping mall, features Vijay as a spy, alongside actors Pooja Hegde, Shine Tom Chacko, Redin Kingsley, Aparna Das, Yogi Babu, VTV Ganesh, Ankur Ajit Vikal, Liliput Faruqui, and filmmaker Selvaraghavan.
The film opened worldwide on Wednesday, a day prior to another big release, the pan-Indian film KGF Chapter 2, which arrives on Thursday.
Earlier, Beast was banned in Kuwait and Qatar over its alleged objectionable portrayal of Muslims. The Tamil Nadu Muslim League (TNML) too had written to the state government demanding a ban on the Vijay-starrer for the same reason. However, the film’s release went ahead as planned.