Kerala Theatres to Struggle More; OTT Meeting Delayed

With more films failing terribly at the big screen, the industry has managed to figure out the biggest enemy, and yes, they are blaming the OTT for it.

Earlier, it was Bollywood that recognized this problem and tried to fix it by mandating an 8-week buffer before the OTT premiere of movies. However, that did not change the fate of the films, which suffered more from bad filmmaking than any OTT threat.

Significantly different in terms of quality, the Malayalam film industry is following in the same footsteps, and the Film Exhibitors United Organisation of Kerala (FEUOK) has raised complaints with the Kerala Government by pushing a proposal that prevents films from having an OTT premiere within 90 days of the theatrical release and elimination of entertainment tax. The government had called a meeting with film organizations; however, the meeting has been postponed due to the ongoing election of the producers’ association.

Theatre owners, who earlier operated at more than 50 percent occupancy, are now struggling to sell even 5 percent of the seats. A large number of screens are vulnerable to permanent shutdown if the condition doesn’t change. The FEUOK expressed disappointment over the postponed meeting. The organization had also proposed to increase the service charge to a minimum of ₹5 in order to sustain.
A similar demand against OTT has been raised in Tollywood as well.