$900K+ Refunds by U.S. Distributor!

This serves as a classic example of how some directors and production houses misuse their time, and their lack of planning affects the buyers for no fault of theirs.

The recent postponement of “Salaar” has hurt many small to mid-sized films that had planned their release dates and became victims of this one film’s poor planning. The U.S. distributor had to process refunds of around $700K, according to a rough estimate.

Now, with “Leo,” again due to the director and production house’s poor planning, IMAX shows have been canceled, and refunds of over $200K need to be processed.

In both cases, the U.S. distributor, Prathyangira Cinemas, had meticulously planned the massive releases of “Salaar” and “Leo” well in advance.

Combining refunds for both Salaar and Leo, the distributor’s refunds would amount to over 900K+, and handling this back-to-back is indeed a rare and challenging situation.

Announcing a release date well in advance is typically seen as good planning. However, for a film that began production less than a year ago, especially a VFX-heavy one as Lokesh Kanagaraj himself said, an early release date announcement is a poor decision.

So, the question remains: Who will take the blame for these last-minute postponements and content delays? Is it because they have a big star at their disposal that they are surviving without basic planning? This is the sad reality.