Tamil film ‘Captain‘ did not have the best run at the box office when it released in theatres on September 8. The Arya starrer had a unique concept, where the protagonist is a military officer who must fight aliens to save his people. The film was said to be heavily inspired by the 1988 Hollywood hit, ‘Predator’. ‘Captain’ was panned for its poor screenplay and average performances, leading to its rejection by theatre-going audiences.
The box office failure of the film has had an unlikely effect on its OTT release. ‘Captain’ will arrive on OTT after only 21 days of its theatrical release. The film released in theatres on September 8. And the ‘Captain’ OTT release date has been announced as September 30 on ZEE5.
‘Captain’ will join the ranks of films such as Acharya, Virata Parvam, and Prithviraj that failed to enjoy even a bare minimum 4 weeks of exclusive theatrical window before landing on OTT. Just like these films, the producers of ‘Captain’ seem to have given in to the worries of piling debts and losses, and allowed the early OTT release of their film for cash flow and to stem their losses.
‘Captain’ debacle proves yet again that film buffs are not willing to accept even average fare at the theatres any more. Grand cinematic spectacles (RRR) event films (KGF 2) and evocative storytelling (Pushpa, Sita Ramam) is what they seek further on. Producers are the ones who have to bear the brunt of the whims of fickle theatre audiences.
‘Captain’ is directed by Shakti Soundar Rajan. It stars Arya, Aishwarya Lekshmi, Kavya Shetty and Simran, among others. ‘Captain’ will premiere on ZEE5 on September 30.