Nandamuri Balakrishna‘s Akhanda 2 had witnessed unprecedented scenes over the last two days. The movie was supposed to release with the Special Premiere on December 4th and was postponed at the last minute.
We have been hearing about the efforts to release the movie somehow until the last minute yesterday. They dropped the baton when a release at least today (Saturday) is not possible. As of today, the team is looking for December 12th or December 24th release.
Mowgli, Isha, and Psych Siddhartha scheduled for December 12th and Champion, Shambala, and Dhandoraa announced for December 25th are naturally worried. Particularly, the December 12th release are worried because they are not sure if they have to continue their promotions because the money spent will be wasted if they do not release.
If they stop the promotions and if Akhanda 2 do not release, it is another headache.
Akhanda 2’s fate depends on the lower court in Chennai.
The Madras High Court issued a stay on the release and directed the lower court to hear the case again and decide.
This order came on Thursday but the judge did not sign on it until Friday night, making going to the lower court difficult.
So, the court will take up the matter on Monday and if it decides in the favor of 14 Reels Plus, Akhanda 2 release will happen.
But the question here is if the court will decide the matter on Monday itself. Usually, when high court sends a matter again to the lower court, the latter has to take it more seriously. Further, the High Court issued an injunction on the movie indicating there is a merit on Eros International’s side.
That will also be playing on the mind of the judge of the lower court. A lot will depend on when he will decide on the case and if it will be in the favor of 14 Reels Plus. As of now, the producers are confident that they will get a favorable offer on Monday itself.
And then, there are pending amounts to be cleared for local financiers. The finance is primarily from three financiers – Gadwal Reddy (Venkat Ram Reddy), Shobhan, and Bangaru Babu. The makers are saying that the local finance is not an issue and is more or less resolved.
Dil Raju and Mango Ram are said to be two people who are doing their best to resolve the issue.
And then, the next task will be to decide a good release date.
This is very important for two reasons. Firstly, the OTT Price is linked to the Box Office Performance. And a huge amount is at stake and so, a good date after all this is very important.
And secondly, the release date can not be far away. That is because the team already exhausted all the promotions. There is no content left to be given before the release and the events were also over. So, the date has to happen before the Promotions are completely lost.
There is also a pressure from the distributors to refund their monies if the delay is so long.
They are also pressing to renegotiate the earlier agreed deals.
For an instance, the North America distributor lost so much on canceling the release at the last minute. It will be difficult for him to secure screens at short notice. Also, there is Avatar coming up on December 19th. It will be difficult to secure a good release in case it is December 24th.
During the negotiations, at one stage, people even thought of bundling Akhanda 2 and 14 Reels Plus’s other production, Tyson Naidu as well but there is significant finance running on that film as well.
It has to be seen the streaming platform, Netflix will be able to give them a good date considering all the issues.
Akhanda 2 Safe Landing is important just for the producers. All the Producers of the Sankranthi releases are also tensed.
If Akhanda 2 do not release as soon as possible, the money of the distributors and exhibitors will be struck. And we are talking about big amounts.
And they will have very tough time to send advances for Sankranthi releases. Films like Rajasaab and Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu will be needing big monies for the distributors. So, that producers are nervous as well.
Once a date is secured for Akhanda 2, the makers have to revisit the Pricing Strategy and assess if the earlier planned rates are good even now. They have to obtain fresh G.O.s from both the Governments. In case of Andhra Pradesh, it is easy but it is a bit tricky when it comes to Telangana because of a pending court order.
Trade believes there is a significant amount of sympathy on the actor, the film, and the producers due to this last-minute hassles and that sympathy will add to the buzz around the film and help its openings.
