Bilal Lashari’s mega-hit movie, The Legend of Maula Jatt, continues to captivate audiences worldwide with its impressive storytelling and stellar performances. The box office numbers from around the world speak for themselves. However, its domestic screening woes make for an intriguing discussion as to why major cinema are still not showing the arguably most successful local film. To explain the controversy, The Legend of Maula Jatt’s distributor, Nadeem Mandviwalla, gave a press conference on Thursday to explain why Pakistani cinema chains are not screening it.
Addressing the accusations by several cinema chains, including Nueplex Cinemas which stated that the distributor’s demands were “out of the industry norms“, Mandviwalla said, “When I met the producers of The Legend of Maula Jatt, they expressed concerns about maximizing returns of their big-budgeted film. So, we sat down with the major cinema owners of the country and presented a strategy that would work for all parties involved”.
He added,
What we offered was that the producers should get 10% more in the first 11 days of release. We compensated this by raising ticket prices for the said period and pleaded with the cinema owners to share the extra amount with the producers.
Mandviwalla’s strategy was to share 60% of the film’s earnings with the producers for the first eight days. Later on, the exhibitors would share the usual 50% of the total earnings with the producer.
The distributor also wanted to increase the ticket prices by Rs. 200 in Karachi, Lahore, Islamabad, and Rawalpindi for the first 11 days after the film’s release.
He further explained, “If all the exhibitors had agreed and this film would have been screened in all cinemas, we would have surpassed Rs. 20-22 crore in the first week. Even with the inflation, we had calculated this to be the most successful Pakistan film in terms of revenue. But our plan was to make sure this film at least earns Rs. 100 crore. And for that, it was imperative that the film should earn at least Rs. 40-50 crore in the first eight days”.
Mandviwalla also shared the reason why he asked to increase the ticket prices for The Legend of Maula Jatt:
There are usually two ways of maximizing returns for any big-budgeted film. One: you increase the number of screens. In the US, when a big-budgeted film is released, it’s usually screened at 4000 cinemas. We only had 144 screens altogether. We didn’t have the choice to increase the number of screens.
He continued,
If I had that, we wouldn’t need a special strategy since the film would have worked anyway and the film recovery would have been easier. Hence, we increased the ticket prices; our plan was to not put any burden on any cinema owners, so their share would still stay fair. The exhibitors continued with the complaints. I kept explaining that I had watched the film, but you haven’t.
Mandviwalla revealed that he had “told the exhibitors that when you do watch the film, all these issues will look so paltry because the film speaks for itself. The six big players in the cinema industry agreed to the films and three didn’t. And refusing or agreeing to the terms was their own right. We didn’t pressure anyone, we only explained the strategy. There are 38 cinema owners in Pakistan. We had 34 onboard. The other four wanted us to bend the terms and we couldn’t do that. There were a lot of speculations about the ongoing screening row”.
The distributor also gave examples of the Avengers and The Dark Knight, two block-buster films whose ticket prices were increased during their release in Pakistan as well. He also addressed the audience who felt the price hike is unjust, telling them to come watch the film after the 11th day.
Mandviwalla concluded the press conference by assuring everyone that the negotiations with cinema owners are still underway as he “won’t rest until The Legend of Maula Jatt is screened in every Pakistani cinema”.
One of Pakistan’s biggest films to date, The Legend of Maula Jatt was opened to packed but limited cinemas across Pakistan and internationally from 13 October onward. The film stars Fawad Khan, Hamza Ali Abbasi, and Mahira Khan.
Fans are hoping the distributors and cinema houses come to an agreement so that The Legend of Maula Jatt finally become accessible to Pakistanis nationwide. What are your thoughts about Nadeem Mandviwalla’s statement? Let us know in the comment section below.
