By now, everyone and their mother should have heard about the Tamil blockbuster Jagame Thandhiram bypassing theaters and heading straight to Netflix next month; at the very least, most South-Indian movie buffs would have heard that particular news. Reports are coming out from multiple camps regarding the dissonance between lead actor Dhanush and film producer Sashikanth as well as the furious rumblings from the theater owners over this decision (which seemed inevitable). Multiple Tamil theater owners are now approaching movie producers – asking for a guarantee of at least 30 days before any film will roll out for streaming on an OTT platform.
Theater and distribution associations of Tamil Nadu are in negotiation with the producer associations from the same state with regards to the release of future films in theaters. Many cinema owners were already disgruntled by Master’s quick shift to OTT streaming – literally just 15 days after theatrical release, and now this direct release of the superstar Dhanush starring feature Jagame Thandhiram in Netflix was the final straw for many of them. With the cinema and distribution companies having been affected financially in the Covid climate, they are now asking for certain reassurances from production houses in Tamil Nadu.
Movies which are small or medium budgeted should run in the theaters for at least 30 days before it goes online, while big budget films should run for at least 50 days before it goes for streaming; these are the demands that are being put forth by the aforementioned theater and distribution associations, which in hindsight, due to the still ongoing Covid issues, does not sound too excessive. But forcing production houses to comply with these demands can be a tad bit too far. Production companies too have suffered losses and looking for the easy way out cannot exactly be faulted (times are difficult for most businesses currently, for obvious reasons).
The negotiations are still ongoing but a version of these discussions were tentatively made earlier for the movie Soorarai Pottru. But eventually Amazon Prime Video took the movie and premiered it on their streaming platform, and the movie went on to be one of the best movies to have come out in 2020. Netflix could be hoping for the same with Dhanush’s multistarrer Jagame Thandhiram, but that is something we will have to wait and see.
Dhanush’s Jagame Thandhiram is expected to drop on Netflix in late February or early March of 2021. For more news and information, follow us here, on our website or on twitter.
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