Vishwaroopam distribution deal still in stalemate

Vishwaroopam which was initially rumored to release on October 12th is still waiting for the distribution deal to close in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi. Initially, Aascar, UTV and Eros were in the race.

• Aascar is known for buying distribution rights only when the deal is insanely sweet as we saw earlier with Billa 2. They backed out immediately after they heard the initial asking quote was hovering around Rs. 80 Crores just for Tamil.

• Both UTV and Eros showed interest and re-initiated the negotiations to buy the rights in all languages after the Production house slashed down the price substantially.

• Now, it is widely reported that UTV has also backed out of the deal, Eros is the only one in the fray with a wide enough gap left to close between ask price and offer price to sign the deal.

Reasons for Delay

The distribution deal involves picking a release date that should be suitable in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi markets simultaneously. All attractive upcoming dates have been blocked by big movies like Maattrraan and Thuppakki in Tamil. Another reason quoted for the hesitation by distributors is that other than Kamal Haasan and Andrea, rest of the crew members and actors are largely unknown to public. Since many of them are still licking their wounds from Manmadhan Ambu's failure, distributors are extremely cautious in paying the big premiums for Vishwaroopam.

With time running out for closing the deal and audio launch not even announced, the chances of Vishwaroopam releasing on October 12th is getting almost ruled out.