Bluesky Cinemas,the reputed overseas distributor, has closed a four movie deal with Producer Dil Raju for 18 crores.Under this deal, Bluesky acquires overseas distribution rights of Raju’s next four movies :
- Duvvada Jagannadham — Allu Arjun, Harish Shankar
- Nenu Local — Hero Nani, ‘Nenu Sailaja’ Fame Keerti Suresh, Directed by ‘Cinema Chupista Mama’ Fame Trinadha Rao
- Fida — Varun Tej, Sekhar Kammula
- Satamanam Bhavati — Sharwanand, Anupama Parameswaran , Directed by Satish Vegesna
Overseas trade circle was taken aback by the deal. Astute producer Dil Raju has quoted the deal as per this ratio : 8 Crore for Allu Arjun – Harish Shankar movie, 3-4 crore for Fida, 3-4 crores for Nenu Local and 2-3 crores for Shatamanam Bhavati. All these movies have to gross more than the current highest of all the heroes at least to break-even.
As an example, Janatha Garage, which has NTR and Siva Koratala was bought for 7.2 Crores and even though the movie was a super hit in the overseas market, the distributor is just breaking even. By that yardstick,8 crores is a steep price for Allu Arjun, who has comparatively lesser market than NTR and combination with Harish Shankar is not a hot cake project given recent track record of the director. Similarly, all the other movies were bought at a significant premium.
Almost all the reputed overseas distributors, threw in the towel for the rights for these movies. While the initial bidding for rights started at 12 crores, being an astute producer that Raju is he was able to extract 18 crores.
Bluesky did successful movies such as Bahubali, A Aa in the recent past and with their track record and reputation they should be able to do reasonable business in the overseas circuit. We wish all the very best to the Bluesky team and their exhibitors.