Mammootty and Manju Warrier’s upcoming new supernatural mystery feature is (unofficially) set to premiere in the first week of next month. This is not news to most Malayalam movie lovers or Mammootty fans, but there has been some recent developments that suggest The Priest is going to get even more attention from audiences than the other movies received while running in the theaters of Kerala. After much deliberation, it is being said that the Kerala State Government is planning to re-allow “second shows” in Cinemas halls, starting from March 1st. If this is allowed, The Priest becomes the first Malayalam movie to premiere in Kerala theaters with night shows also running, post-the-pandemic-lockdown.
Multiple film bodies and interested parties have been giving pressure to the Kerala State Government to allow second shows/ night shows, for sometime now. Second shows form up a huge chunk of movie collection, so naturally cinema owners and film producers campaigned for it to be allowed to be open. Unless you are a hard core fan of certain actors, most moviegoers in Kerala will watch movies only during early shows or late shows.
The State Government has only been allowing three shows to run daily, in any cinema hall from 9 am to 9 pm, since it allowed theaters to be opened last month. With only 50% capacity allowed, the production house and hall owners are barely getting enough money for production cost return. Although the Kerala State Government announced a waiver on entertainment tax till 31st March of this year, the producers and theater owners will need that chunk of second show cash if they are to recuperate some of the heavy losses.
Even the producers of The Priest are waiting for the Government to make the decision. The release date of the movie on the 4th of March is still, just an unofficial release date, so if the second show announcement is not made by the 1st of March, The Priest will likely be rescheduled to a later date – and so will many other movies, most likely.
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