Call it the effect of movies on others. With Vikram's 'I ' and Rajinikanth's Lingaa scheduled for worldwide release in November and December respectively, the release schedeules of more than a dozen Tamil movies have gone haywire. In the process, producers of several mid-budget movies have decided to release their projects only next year.

There is no pressure from the makers of either 'I' or Lingaa for adequate number of screens, but it is just that the producers of the completed Tamil flicks movies do not want to risk a release at this want to risk a release at this juncture. The last week of October will see the release of two big-budget movies - Kaththi (Vijay & Samantha Prabhu) directed by A R Murugadoss and Poojai (Shruti Haasan an Vishal).

"Kaththi and Poojai will have two weeks of uninterrupted run before 'I' hits theatres in November. Lingaa is scheduled for release in December. In between, producers of other bigbudget movies, such as, Anegan (Dhanush's movie directed by K V Anand); Uttama Villain (Kamal Haasan movie directed by Ramesh Aravind) and Oru Oorla Rendu Raja (Priya Anand & Soori) have to jostle for screens. We will witness big fights among the makers of these movies for screens across Tamil Nadu in the next two months," said a Chennai based leading distributor.

Take the case of Anegan, which is riding high on expectations. The makers have not been able to freeze the release date because `I' release has been changed twice. Similarly, Uttama Villain has not been able to find a good number number of screens for its release. Normally, superstars get a two-week window of uninterrupted show, but ensuring that has become a problem this time.

"Amidst all this confusion, several movies have been postponed for 2015 release.Unfortunately, the producers of these movies, particularly those made on medium and low budget, will lose money as they are lying in the cans," the distributor added.

The release of Vijay Sethupathi's Idam Porul Eval, Siddarth's Kaaviya Thalaivan, Vishal's Madha Gaja Raja, Arya's Meaghamann, Gautham Karthik's Sippai and Vai Raja Vai have not been scheduled.In addition to these, seven other Tamil movies, which have been completed, will not be released this year.

To make matters worse, distributors are not keen on picking the Tamil Nadu rights for these movies. The distribution rights of `I' have been sold for a record price for Tamil Nadu territory. The same can be expected of Lingaa as well.

"Distributors and exhibitors need an extended theatrical run to recover the costs in case neither of the movie performs well at the box office. It is unfortunate that this situation has arose," said an exhibitor.