Mersal total screen count to set a new benchmark for Ilayathalapathy Vijay

The coming Diwali festival is expected to bring a good fortune for Mersal with virtually no competition from any movie in South India. No big films are releasing from Telugu, Malayalam and Kannada film industries which has made the Tamil film the first choice for the exhibitors for screening.

As a result, the screen count has crossed the 3,200 mark for Mersal and is likely to easily cross the 3,500 mark by the time the film gears up for release. "#MersalScreenCount 3292. Will add more #MersalDiwali #7DaysToGo @Atlee_dir @MuraliRamasamy4 @ThenandalFilms. [sic]" Hema Rukmani, the CEO of Sri Thenandal Entertainment, tweeted.

Generally, big banner movies from Telugu, Tamil and Kannada are released during Diwali. But this season, none of the stars' films are releasing which has come as a boon to Mersal.

There is a good hype for Mersal and distributors across the globe are planning to release the movie big. The film is expected to have a wider release in Vijay's strongholds like Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh.

The early trends indicate that Mersal will get around 100 screens in Karnataka, 300 screens in Kerala and over 400 screens in Andhra Pradesh.

Among the overseas centres, Malaysia tops the list. TSR Pictures, the distributor of Mersal in the region, has revealed that it will be out on 800 screens in 122 locations. In UAE, Singapore, the UK and the US, the Vijay-starrer will see the light of the day in a good number of screens.

The interesting part of the story is that Mersal will be screened in the Grand Rex Cinemas in Paris, the largest cinema hall in Europe, which has a seating capacity of over 2,000 seats.

The trade experts are of the opinion that the movie will set a new benchmark for Vijay in terms of screen count. 

The Atlee Kumar-directorial, which has Samantha, Kajal Aggarwal and Nithya Menen in the female leads, will hit the screens on October 18.