Ranbir Kapoor & Rashmika Mandanna’s 'Animal' not releasing on 11 August

The makers of the much-awaited action-thriller, Animal, starring Ranbir Kapoor has been postponed, as per reports. While the film's makers are yet to make an official announcement to confirm the same, the actioner that was to hit the silver screen on 11 August has been reportedly pushed to December. 

Taking to Twitter, film critic & trade analyst Taran Adarsh recently shared the news of the film's postponement. He wrote, "Xclusiv.. Animal is not arriving on Independence Day weekend... #Animal, starring #RanbirKapoor and directed by #SandeepReddyVanga, won’t release on 11 August, 2023. Yes, the film has been postponed. A new release date will be announced in the coming days. #BhushanKumar." Have a look at his tweet here:

Last month, the team of Animal had shared the pre-teaser. While in the first look poster of the film, Ranbir held an axe under his arm, with blood stains on his shoulder, as he lit a cigarette, the video began with several people wielding axes and wearing skull masks, white shirts, black waistcoats, and ties. Wearing white dhoti and kurta, Ranbir walked in with an axe in his hand to fight with the group. He swung his axe as he killed several people. Netizens were however quick to point out that the action sequence was straight copied from Park Chan Wook's Old Boy that was released in 2003 and later premiered at Cannes Film Festival 2004. Whether Animal is a remake or just the sequence copied, its not yet been known.

Though media have been speculating that the postponement comes in the wake of the release of Gadar 2 as well as Akshay Kumar’s OMG 2 on 11th August, it seems the makers have decided to play safe by not releasing the same week. However, according to a report by Bollywood Hungama, Animal's VFX is the reason for the delay. A source told the publication that Sandeep is a perfectionist and does not want to release an uncompromised product on the VFX front. Moreover, Animal is one of the most ambitious projects of T-Series, and they too don't want to compromise on quality. The makers supposedly need more time to give the audience a world-class product. As such, the producers, along with Ranbir Kapoor, took a collective call to delay the film to December.

Helmed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga, Animal stars Ranbir Kapoor, Anil Kapoor, Bobby Deol and Rashmika Mandanna and is backed by Bhushan Kumar & Krishan Kumar's T-Series, Murad Khetani's Cine1 Studios and Pranay Reddy Vanga's Bhadrakali Pictures. Animal will be Sandeep Reddy Vanga’s second Hindi film after Kabir Singh (2019).