Tamil Nadu theatres announce new revenue sharing model

Chennai, – May 29 (IANS) The Tamil Nadu Theatre and Multiplex Owners’ Association, in an unprecedented move, has announced a new revenue sharing model based on the market value of the male stars of the Tamil film fraternity.

As per a statement released by the association, a decision regarding the new revenue model was taken on May 24.

“In order to combat various factors such as taxation regulations, maintenance cost, increase in personal tax and employee salaries which have become a major burden for theatre owners, the association has decided to streamline its regulations,” read the statement.

According to the new model, theatre owners would share revenues based on the collections of a film across various audience centres, week by week.

While superstar Rajinikanth, Ajith and Vijay constitute tier-1 of the group, Suriya, Jayam Ravi, Dhanush, Simbu, Sivakarthikeyan and Vijay Sethupathi form the tier-2 group. The rest of the actors, including Kamal Haasan and Vikram, fall in the tier-3 group.

So for films featuring Rajinikanth, Vijay and Ajith who belong to the tier-1 group, producers and theatre owners will share profits on a 60:40 ratio for the first week in ‘A’ centres and 55:45 for the second week.

For actors belonging to the tier-2 group, producers and theatre owners will share profits on a 55:45 ratio for the first week in ‘A’ centres and 50:50 for the second week.

For the tier-3 group, producers and theatre owners will share profits on a 50:50 ratio for the first week in ‘A’ centres and 45:55 for the second week.

Trade analyst Trinath feels if the new revenue sharing model gets implemented, it will give producers a clear picture about the market value of the actors.

“If this model gets implemented, there will be transparency in revenues and producers will have clear idea about the market value of stars. It will also let actors know how their films are doing centre-wise,” Trinath told IANS.