The Film Exhibitors United Organisation of Kerala has decided to protest by shutting the theatres for two days. The protest is a reaction to the filmmakers’ decision to release the recent Malayalam film ‘2018: Everyone is a Hero’ on the OTT platform after 33 days of its release.
The organisation has said that by releasing the film just 33 days after the release, the filmmakers have violated the 42-day window permitted by the Film Chamber between the theatre and OTT releases.
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The film was declared a clean hit after releasing in theatres. The movie hit the silver screen at the same time when the Hindi blockbuster ‘The Kerala Story’ was released and yet managed to gain a considerable amount of traction from across the country.
‘2018’ will start streaming on June 7. The movie will be available on Sony LIV and OTTplay Premium in Malayalam, Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, and Kannada.
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While speaking to OTTplay K Vijayakumar, the president of the Film Exhibitors United Organisation of Kerala, stated that the Kerala theatres will stop running the film in the theatre. The theatres in Kerala have a rule that the films will stop running in the theatres after their OTT release.
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“See, it is still running from packed houses to a lot of theatres. But the only leeway we would be showing is that we will be playing the movie in theatres till it releases on OTT. So, after the second show on June 6, we will stop playing it in theatres across Kerala,” said K. Vijayakumar to OTTplay
“Such producers can always prioritise OTT platforms. Why also depend on theatres? Cinema halls are not experimental tools. Producers and directors have all the rights and freedom to choose the platform of release to ensure profit for them, but they shouldn’t use theatres to maximise that. But movies that are made for theatres should play in theatres for as many days as possible,” he continue.
