Sun Pictures vies for Marmayogi production rights

It has been reported in some sections of the media that Kamal's Marmayogi might change hands from Pyramid Saimira to Sun Pictures. This doesn't come as a big surprise given the recent developments surrounding Sun Pictures and Pyramid Saimira.

Over two weeks after Expresso reported that Pyramid Saimira is likely to pull out of its project with Kamal Haasan, the period movie Marmayogi, it seems confirmed now, that the race is on for other producers to take over the movie. Sun Pictures, which has entered the production scene with a bang with Kadhalil Vizhundhen, has confirmed now that they are looking at a proposal to produce the movie. (Link)

Pyramid Saimira is not in the best of financial health after the disappointing performance of Kuselan. Further, Saimira's foray into the North Indian market has not paid off well. They recently closed their North Indian operations. Pyramid Saimira has also shown aggressiveness in entering unchartered territories like the Chinese market where they have very little ground presence and local knowledge. It was widely speculated that Saimira would face difficulties making a commercial success out of such a mega budget movie like Marmayogi which is said to cost upwards of Rs. 100 crores. 

Contrastingly, Sun Pictures has made a killing out of Kadhalil Vizhunthen. The low budget movie was promoted aggressively through various forms of media owned by Sun TV and hence the hype ensured that the movie had a good opening. In addition to this, Sun's business model is undergoing a change ever since the balance of power shifted in favour of Kalaignar TV. The rights of all new big budget movies (especially the ones produced by Pyramid Saimira) were going the way of Kalaignar TV. This prompted Sun TV to do backward integration and enter the world of film production. This will ensure that they have a steady pipeline of movies which can be screened in future even if they meet with limited success in bagging the television rights of other popular movies.