Relief for Avatar 2 fans! Kerala Film Exhibitors Federation members to screen movie while FEUOK stays away

While majority of theatres in Kerala are yet to allow the screening of James Cameron’s much-awaited Avatar: The Way of Water, a section of film exhibitors, belonging to the Kerala Film Exhibitors Federation (KFEF), have announced that they will be playing the movie, come what may on December 16.

On Tuesday, Film Exhibitors United Organisation of Kerala (FEUOK) president K Vijayakumar had announced that all the members of its body – which owns 454 out of the 600-plus theatres in State – will not be screening the film due to “unreasonable” terms of the movie’s distributors, UTV. The terms included that 60% of the film’s net revenue after tax must be given to the distributors while also guaranteeing that the movie runs in all the theatres for a minimum of three weeks and that the profit percentage remains the same throughout this period.

FEUOK members said that this wasn’t fair, especially when the distributors had agreed to 52.5% share with the multiplexes in the State and 50% share in other states. While this did cause disappointment among fans in Kerala, Liberty Basheer, president of KFEF under which comes the remaining theatres, said that all members of the body will be playing the 3D version of the film when it releases on December 16.

FEUOK too is expected to follow suit, considering the potential of the James Cameron film to bring in the audience to the theatres. The Sam Worthington and Zoe Saldana-starrer, which is reportedly made on a budget between $350 million to $400 million, is one of the most expensive Hollywood films and the makers will be hoping that the international markets account for a major chunk of its revenue. However, the first film bagging over $2 billion will offer hope as Avatar: The Way of Water will need to overhaul this record to break even. Two more instalments have been greenlit by Disney, but the box office figures of Avatar 2 will decide its future.