Allu Arjun’s industry record-breaking pan-India biggie, Pushpa 2: The Rule, is continuing its historic run at the global box office with close to Rs 1,550 crore gross so far. The film has emerged as the third highest-grossing Indian movie of all time, standing next only to Aamir Khan’s Dangal and Rajamouli’s Baahubali: The Conclusion.

Pushpa 2 has retained a large number of screens across the country even in its third week. And this has posed a huge challenge to Varun Dhawan and Keerthy Suresh’s Baby John, which is releasing on December 25 as a Christmas treat. Baby John distributors have been struggling to secure a good number of screens for the Christmas weekend, leading to a battle between the multiplex chains and Pushpa 2’s Hindi distributor Anil Thadani of AA Film’s.

Apparently, Anil Thadani is demanding an equal number of screens as Baby John for the Christmas weekend to cash in on the festive holiday advantage. As per the Bollywood trade reports, Anil Thadani has asked the multiplex chains across the country to commit 50 percent of the showcasing for the Christmas holiday for Pushpa 2. This has left Baby John distributors to split the shows with the Hollywood biggie, Mufasa: The Lion King.

However, the multiplex chains refused to bow down to Anil Thadani’s demands and stopped the advance bookings for Pushpa 2 for the Christmas weekend after Anil Thadani refused to share the KDM and Release Order for the third weekend. Apparently, Anil Thadani relented and shared the KDM and Release Order after seeing the united stance of the multiplexes.

Although the advance bookings for Pushpa 2 are now open for the Christmas weekend, Anil Thadani is still in talks with the exhibitors to secure an equal showcasing for Pushpa 2 on par with Baby John. A crucial decision will be made by this weekend to end this deadlock.