Kabzaa: Advance bookings for Upendra’s gangster flick opens in key cities; no EMS yet

This Friday, the much-awaited moment will be here. Producer-director R Chandru’s ‘next-big-thing’ from Sandalwood, Kabzaa, will be in theatres on March 17 and the verdict on whether his film is a KGF copy not only in its look and sound, or if he has managed to tell a vastly different story will be out. Advance bookings for the film were supposed to open on March 10, but did eventually on March 12 only.

In Bengaluru, for instance, single-screen bookings have opened, with multiplexes to be added by Wednesday. So far, there is no sign of an early morning show (EMS) for the Upendra-starrer, with the earliest at 9.15 am at a city multiplex. Single-screens are all beginning Kabzaa with 10 am or 10.30 am shows only. Mysuru's DRC Cinemas lists an 8 am show, but it remains to be seen if that will happen and if Bengaluru theatres follow suits and add earlier shows. 

In Karnataka, Chandru has taken on the responsibility of distributing Kabzaa himself, whereas for the other centres, he has good partners on board. For instance, Hindi is being handled by Anand Pandit, Tamil by Lyca Productions, Malayalam by LGF Productions and Telugu by Ruchira Entertainments and N Cinemas.

Although Chandru was hopeful of releasing Kabzaa in close to 6,000 screens worldwide, the latest is that he will settle for around 4,000, considering that Shazaam: Fury of the Gods is the big international release of the week.

Kabzaa’s digital rights for Kannada, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam have been sold to Amazon Prime Video, while Colors Kannada picked up the TV rights for the Kannada version. Prime Video is expected to extend an offer for the Hindi version of the film as well. Kabzaa’s deal with the streamer is for on or before 30 days from release, so it will be on the platform by mid April, unless, of course, the film is a massive box office success and the makers are able to negotiate a different date with the streamer.