Rajinikanth's '2.0' to clash with Akshay Kumar's 'Padman' at box office

Rajinikanth and Akshay Kumar in '2.0'

This Diwali was set to witness a three-cornered box office battle. Rohit Shetty had announced an October 18 release for 'Golmaal Again'; so had the makers of Akshay Kumar and Rajinikanth-starrer '2.0'.

Recently, Aamir Khan shifted 'Secret Superstar' from August 4 to the festive date with "Rajini sir's blessings". However, makers of the South superstar's sci-fi thriller have suddenly decided to vacate the Diwali slot for a clear window - Republic Day 2018.

The team of 'Golmaal Again'

Raju Mahalingam, creative head and COO of Lyca Productions, the makers of 2.0, tweeted late last night, "Our most ambitious project, Shankar's '2.0' shifts to 25 Jan 2018. It moves from the earlier Diwali release to achieve world class standards in VFX (sic)."

With only 'Golmaal Again' and 'Secret Superstar' now clashing on Diwali, there is jubilation in the camp of Shetty's franchise.

Aamir Khan in 'Secret Superstar'

Says Shibasish Sarkar, COO of Reliance Entertainment, which is jointly producing the film with Shetty, "We are happy that we now have a clear window. The 'Golmaal' franchise is synonymous with Diwali. Since it is a comedy, the subject goes with the festive cheer. It is a big scale project and we are hoping to get a much larger share of screens now."

Interestingly, Republic Day is synonymous with the Khiladi. If buzz is to be believed, Akshay was eyeing the same weekend for one of his forthcoming films, 'Padman'. But, obviously, there cannot be an Akshay vs Akshay at the box office.

There was also speculation about Neeraj Pandey's 'Aiyaary' starring Manoj Bajpayee and Sidharth Malhotra being scheduled for an R-Day release.

With '2.0' moving to January, film releases a week before and after are also likely to be reshuffled.