Bilal Lashari’s magnum opus and the most high budget film ever produced in Pakistan, The Legend of Maula Jatt, has lived up to expectations of the cine-goers worldwide. However, the film is enveloped in controversies after its release as speculations are rife that the distributor of the film — Mandviwala Entertainment — is not releasing the movie for screening in all local theatres. Recently, Nueplex cinema owners also accused him of setting screening terms that were ‘out of the industry norms’.
On Thursday, Nadeem Mandviwala, CEO Mandviwala Entertainment and distributor of The Legend of Maula Jatt along with its Associate Producer Adnan Zahoor addressed the media in a press conference to shed light on the recent controversies regarding the screening of The Legend of Maula Jatt.
Addressing these concerns, Nadeem Mandviwala spoke at length and explained the strategies he devised to promote the film of this stature in Pakistan. He said that considering The Legend of Maula Jatt is the kind of film that has never been made before, it was mandatory to devise a strategy in order to maximize the profits for the producers so that they can come back and make another film.
“Globally, whenever mega productions are released cinema owners or groups support such films by giving more screens so that maximum box office collections are done in the initial fortnight. Alternatively, where screens are unavailable, admission rates are increased, and a higher percentage of the box office is shared with the distributors. The objective is to assist the films box office collection in the initial period and support the distributors and producers without sacrificing revenue of the exhibitor. A win win situation for all,” he said.
The strategy in place
“I was hired as the distributor of the film two months prior to its release and I planned two strategies. I personally went to the owners of all six cinema groups in Pakistan to discuss the said strategies [option 1 and 2 in the picture attached below]. It was simply about increasing the ticket prices for 11 days and producers should get 10% more in the first 11 days of release. We had 34 out of the 38 cinema owners in Pakistan onboard. Now, I couldn’t change my terms to adjust the few people who disagreed because then I had to renegotiate with everyone once again,” he added clarifying that it was the producers who picked the strategy he applied.
He shared that according to his strategy, exhibitors will be sharing 60% of the film earnings with the producers for the first 8 days after the release. After the 9th day, exhibitors would share the usual 50% of the total earnings with the producers. The ticket prices will be increased by PKR 200 in Karachi, Islamabad, Lahore and Rawalpindi for the first 11 days.
“Unfortunately, in Pakistan, some cinema groups opted to not go the extra mile and support the most expensive Pakistani production to date, justifying their decision not to do so by misrepresenting facts. I am here to present you all facts and figures, so you understand the situation and the economics surrounding it.”
Mandviwala insisted that for “a film to make PKR 100 crore, it is mandatory that it reaches 50 crore box office in its first week. The film was released in October so as to provide it maximum screens. If this film would have been screened in all cinemas simultaneously, we would have surpassed PKR 20 to 22 crores in the first week, breaking Sanju’s records i.e. PKR 18 crores in first week.”
About the film
Responding to a question, he clarified that he is speaking as a distributor and not an owner of Mandviwala Entertainment Cinemas, so all these policies are applicable on his cinema chain as well.
“I saw an opportunity for the Pakistani cinema and I wanted to make the most of it. However, it is every cinema owner’s right to run their business the way they want to. I kept telling the exhibitors that you will understand it when you do watch the film. These issues will look so insignificant because the film speaks for itself and it deserves a big box office. Right now, the film is not even running in 50 cinemas but it is still making history,” he shared.
“We are still requesting the remaining four cinema owners to join us. The Arena has come on board and has started screening the film. I will not rest until this film is screened in every cinema in Pakistan,” he said.
Read: The Legend of Maula Jatt roars with $2.3 million at global box office
Ticket prices
Talking about the hike in ticket prices, Madviwala shared that it is not the first time exhibitors have increased ticket prices for a film.
“It’s a norm worldwide and not a new practice. We had increased ticket prices when Avengers and The Dark Knight were released too. The audience came in and watched those films as well. Since The Legend of Maula Jatt is not screening in all cinemas across Pakistan, we have to sustain it because there are only a limited number of screens. If others start showing it then their ticket prices will increase and ours will decrease.”
“In Hollywood, high-budget big banner movies are usually shown on around 4,000 screens while there are 12,000 screens in India. Unfortunately, Pakistan only has 144 screens so, our only option is to increase the ticket prices,” he said.
On questions about inflation and how audience should watch it if the prices are so high, he replied: “They can wait for 11 days and come on the 12th day to watch the film.”
