The die seems to be cast as Bollywood seems to have declared war on the multiplex owners. The revenue sharing dispute between multiplex owners and film producers may cost the industry a lot if the impasse is not solved quickly.

In a rare show of solidarity, at least 24 top filmmakers have joined hands and decided to not release their films at multiplexes from April 9 onwards till the matter is resolved. More than two dozen films are lined up for release in the next two three months, with an investment of some Rs 300 crore riding on them. But the issue has now reached a point where the industry is not willing to bend down to the exhibitors anymore. The issue of profit sharing has marred the opening of many a film. In recent times, it happened to Dev D and Delhi 6, with the result that no advance bookings could be made for these two films, thus affecting their performance in the opening week. Adding to the problem is the dependency of the producers and distributors on multiplexes. The United Producers' Forum, headed by Mahesh Bhatt is now demanding a 50 50 division in profit sharing, against the 45 to 50 per cent in the first week, depending on the territory. Internationally, there seems to be a trend of a fixed revenue sharing ratio which is not dependent on the film's cast or size, unlike in India. Adding weight to the Producer's Forum is the presence of all the big names of the industry like Yash Chopra, Siddharth Roy Kapur of UTV, Sandeep Bhargava of The Indian Film Company, Kishore Lulla of Eros, Ramesh Sippy, the film distributors president and Ramesh Taurani, along with the Bhatt brothers, Mahesh and Mukesh. So till the issue is not resolved, it is official that no movies will release in multiplexes from April 4 onwards. This is likely to delay the release of films like Jashan, Kaminay, Shortkut, Life Partner, Luck, New York, and Paying Guest among others. The multiplex owners are yet to come out in the open with their views on the matter.