Sooryavanshi has been doing phenomenal business ever since its release a couple of weeks back. That said, the makers and Reliance Entertainment, who are the distributors of the film, have ended up having issues with the pan India multiplex chain, Carnival Cinemas.
As a matter of fact, starting Saturday, Sooryavanshi has been withdrawn from all the Carnival Cinema properties. The reason behind this extreme step is the non-payment of dues by Carnival Cinemas towards the distributor share. As per the agreement that took place right before the movie’s release on Diwali, all the multiplex chains were issued a directive to transfer the payment of the distributors share to Reliance Entertainment twice a week.
Even the days of the weekly release of payment were also decided; Monday for the previous weekend’s business and Friday for the weekdays’ collections. However, Carnival has defaulted on the payment of the last four days of the opening week and both the tranches for the second week, which in turn has prompted Reliance Entertainment to pull off their association with them with immediate effect. It is not the first time that Carnival Cinemas has defaulted on the payment to Reliance.
The chain owed them a sum of Rs. 1.35 crore even before the pandemic hit. However, back then, the two parties agreed on a way out, with Carnival planning to pay the dues over a period of time. Sooryavanshi was screening across 66 properties of Carnival Cinemas and as per the reports, registered net collections of 5.44 crores for week 1 and 1.90 crores for the 2nd week. It is not the first time that the chain has been in the news for all the wrong reasons.
In September 2021, some employees cried foul over unpaid dues and unprofessional conduct of the company by forcing them to sell milk and vegetables. As per a report in a leading financial daily, Carnival’s debt is over 700 crores and although it has tried to grow fast, it doesn’t have the financial might as PVR, Inox or even Cinepolis.
