Distributors of the Dutt biopic paid THIS amount to avoid clash with ‘Tiger Zinda Hai’

Sanjay Dutt's biopic starring Ranbir Kapoor and Kabir Khan’s ‘Tiger Zinda Hai’ starring superstar Salman Khan and Katrina Kaif are two of the most anticipated movies among the upcoming releases. While both were to hit the theatres by the end of this year and have an epic clash at the Box Office, makers of the Dutt biopic have averted the clash by shifting the release of their movie to March 2018.

A trade source revealed, “Vidhu Vinod Chopra is mounting this film on a huge scale and this might be the film Ranbir has been wanting for so long. Hirani can hardly go wrong with content, and is the most bankable director in the industry, so it would have been a ‘close match’ but the distributors and exhibitors asked the producers to delay the film’s release.”

Talking about Salman’s film’s advantage over Ranbir’s film, the source added, “The exhibitors weren’t willing to pay more than Rs 70-80 crore for the film because if the clash had happened, the films would have suffered. Also, Salman’s film would have had an advantage when it comes to the division of screens. ‘Tiger Zinda Hai’ would have still done more than Rs 200 crore business, but Ranbir’s film would have done maximum Rs 150 crore, even if the content was terrific.”

“The Dutt biopic is a huge film, and will definitely do crazy numbers. But that’s only when it doesn’t clash with a superstar’s film, especially Salman’s. So the distributors agreed to pay them Rs 110 crore for the theatrical rights, on the condition that the film was pushed to a later date. Now, it has a solo release on March 30,” said the source before signing off.

(Also read: Ranbir Kapoor to sport six different looks for Sanjay Dutt's biopic)

CREDITS: DNA