Kerala theatres are one of the last groups of theatres around the globe to re-open, with the cinema halls having been shut for a record of at least 16 months in total, not including the brief four-month period in between during which theatres were open. But due to current events, Kerala theatres might have to postpone their reopening by another week at least. However, this time, it is not due to a new wave of coronavirus or rising number of Covid-19 patient cases – no, it is due to the heavy rains and subsequent floods that have been happening in various parts of the Southern state, recently.
At the beginning of this month (October), after discussing with various theatre and distribution committees and associations, the State Government of Kerala had decided to open theatres by the 25th of this month. This news quickly spread like wildfire among the Malayalam film industry, with film producers and artists behinds the upcoming films ‘Marakkar’, ‘Thuramukham’, ‘Kurup’ and many more receiving the news warmly. While most of the aforementioned big blockbuster films are expected to premiere in theatres after October only, we were still expecting a couple of big films to drop – like ‘Free Guy’ or a couple of the MCU films like ‘Shang Chi’ and possibly even ‘Black Widow’ – to entice audiences to return to theatres.
But with all 14 districts of Kerala currently under red alert for possible floods, we could be seeing the postponement of the theatrical reopening by at least a week. Some of these floods have already destroyed properties and claimed a few lives so far. We don’t see the theatre owners doing this themselves though, so we expect an official order from the State Government to shut down the halls soon.