Reasons quoted for Thuppakki delay to November 13th

The reservations for first day booking was going on in full swing in a few theatres. AR Murugadoss tweeted a day before that Thuppakki will start firing on November 9th. Even the usual suspect, Harris Jayaraj, had confirmed that he finished the background score 4 days before the release (marginal improvement compared to Maattrraan when the musician had finished the re-recording 48 hours prior to release date).

Immediately after the final copy got ready, Gemini Film Circuit(GFC), who owns the worldwide distribution, announced that they are pushing out the release to November 13th. Many reasons have been quoted for this drastic unpopular decision,

• It is believed that getting the overseas censor formalities completed at all international release locations will not be possible with only 3 more days in hand. Technically, the final copy should be ready at least a week in advance so there is sufficient time to handle overseas censor, shipment of physical prints, and promotions.

• Another less likely reason quoted is to satisfy Andhra and Kerala distributors who preferred Thuppakki for Diwali since releasing the movie a weekend prior to Diwali may not be a good strategy in non-Tamil territories since Thuppakki could get trampled by onslaught of new movies in local and Hindi languages that are lined up for the festival day. 

• Finally, a few speculators have started wagging their tongues on whether GFC doubts the viability of Thuppakki's content that may have triggered this delay. GFC is also the producer for the other Diwali release "Poda Podi" may have ended up playing it safe to maximize the returns by pushing out the date. In the past, pre-releasing a movie had backfired whenever the content had been weak (e.g., Villu released a few days before Padikathavan which released on Pongal). If this is the real source of concern, keep a close eye on any duration differences in theatrical prints compared to that of censored copy.

November 13(Tuesday) release will impact BO performance at Overseas

The release delay to November 13th is not a good news for overseas distributors, especially in the US, Canada, UK and other European locations. The idea of releasing the movie mid-week is a non-starter in this region because Diwali is not an official holiday in these western countries. Many of the common audience will not be willing to do the long distance trip to the theatres on a regular work day. There is also online piracy posing a big risk during the first few days with prints available just a few clicks away.

Bottomline: Such indecision around release date is yet another proof that Tamil Industry still lacks professionalism and can be termed at the best, primitive compared to Telugu or Hindi movie industries (let alone Hollywood).

Also Read - Dysfunctionality of Tamil Film Industry