News similar to this has been reported in the recent months, especially throughout the pandemic. Movie theater associations regularly pushing back at or suing film makers when they decide to opt for OTT releases during the lockdown has become a common theme in the last 8-10 weeks.
Just a couple of months ago, the Jyothika starrer “Ponmagal Vandhal” (produced by Suriya’s 2D Entertainment) got major backlash from the ‘Theatre Owners Association in Tamil Nadu’ for its Amazon Prime release. The incensed theater owners issued a statement saying they will never work with Suriya or his family members again.
But there have been issues such as this happening, well before the pandemic started. Acting legend Kamal Hassan in 2013, was bullied (by the Theaters Association) into giving up his idea of a one-day pay-per-view model for his movie “Vishwaroopam”, which would be available to watch on Television the day before it released.
Theater associations are panicking and are using their theaters as leverage to stop films featuring big stars or big films in general, from being digitally released. When Amazon Prime released the names and dates of the movies it will release digitally later during the pandemic, INOX the multiplex chain, released a strongly worded letter highlighting their disappointment in the film makers for not waiting.
Film makers and producers who have finished products in hand will always try to go for theatrical releases whenever possible simply because they garner more crowd, which results in better profits. But since there is a lockdown going on, holding out till theaters open is not a viable option for most film makers. A lot of movies are made by taking loans and with each day a project collects dust, is another day of huge interests piling on the loan-takers’ heads. Forcing film makers to not release their movies on OTTs can have a reverse effect, where they won’t even be able to create more movies later on for theatrical releases due to the debt pile up.
But instead of these ‘under-handed tactics’ on film makers, they should be trying to find solutions on their own. This is an ever changing industry and the ones that are not open to change, will not pull ahead much further.
Theaters in North India decided to start releasing more South Indian movies in their theaters when regional and Bollywood movies started to go for digital releases. With the film watching community changing and becoming more varied, theaters should be trying to put up neglected documentaries and hit short films. Plus the pandemic will eventually die down and the lockdown will be removed soon. When that happens, most people are not going to stay stuck inside homes.
Movie viewing has definitely changed during the pandemic. But after all that is said, theatrical movie experience has not been replicated and cannot be replicated by OTT platforms. To quote Kamal Haasan, “Just because everyone has a kitchen at home, it doesn’t mean they would stop going out to eat at restaurants.”