The exhibition trade’s prayers seem to have been answered. Toxic: A Fairy Tale For Grown-Ups has been postponed so that the clash between it and Dhurandhar: The Revenge has been averted. Exhibitors were panicking because of the big clash. Both, the Dhurandhar sequel and the Hindi dubbed version of Toxic: A Fairy Tale For Grown-Ups, were scheduled to hit the screens on 19th March to take advantage of two major festival holidays — Gudi Padwa and Eid — on 19th and 21st March respectively in the first week.
The showcasing of the two eagerly awaited and hugely anticipated films was posing a big problem for multiplexes as well as single-screen cinemas. In multiplexes with more than three screens, the tension was about the number of shows to be allotted to each of the two films while in multiplexes with two screens as also in single-screen cinemas, it was about which film to accommodate and which film to avoid. In single-screen cinemas especially, producers and distributors of both the big-budget fares wanted all the shows to be given to their film rather than a show-sharing formula being worked out to accommodate both the films.
While the runaway success of Dhurandhar has made its sequel one of the most exciting films of recent times, Kannada films’ superstar, Yash, has succeeded in making Toxic… one of the most exciting films to look forward to, more so after the outstanding box-office performance of the Hindi dubbed version of Yash’s recent film, K.G.F. Chapter 2, all over India.
Although rumours were rife in trade circles that the producers of Toxic… had shifted their film’s release ahead because they did not want their film, dubbed in Hindi and other South Indian languages, to come in opposition of Dhurandhar: The Revenge, the former film’s producers took to social media to explain why they had postponed the release. They cited the ongoing war as the main reason for the postponement. Since the Middle East is a potentially huge market for Toxic…, it was felt that the tension in the region could adversely affect the box-office so markedly that Toxic... could actually end up doing far less business than expected in the Middle East if it were to be released on 19th March. Rather than helplessly stare at a disturbing situation, the producers of Toxic: A Fairy Tale For Grown-Ups chose instead to change its release date to 4th June.
The producers and Overseas distributors of the Dhurandhar sequel may not be as tense about the business of their film being badly affected in the Middle East by the war because there is not much hope for the sequel to even release there. Like the first part, Dhurandhar, was not permitted by several countries in the Middle East to release in cinemas, the sequel also might have to bear the same kind of ban because of its anti-Pakistan theme.
