Strike call: Why Kerala theatre owners will stop screening Malayalam films from February 22?

Theatre owners in Kerala have called for a strike and won't be screening new Malayalam film releases after February 22 in theatres stating that film producers are violating the OTT release agreement.

FEOUK (Film Exhibitors Organisation of Kerala) has announced that from February 22 onwards, no new Malayalam movies will be released in theatres. The verdict was taken on Friday. FEOUK president Vijayakumar has stated that this decision was taken in protest against the dictatorial attitude of the producers.

According to the theatre owners, the producers are violating the OTT release agreement. Though the agreement says a film will be screened on OTT only after 42 days of theatrical release, many films are being screened within a month of theatrical release. FEOUK says if this issue is not resolved by this Wednesday, they will have to take this extreme step.

“Other demands including revenue sharing and the right to install projectors in the cinema theatres have also been ignored by the producers. They should stick to their earlier deal of releasing in OTT after six weeks,” says a source close to FEOUK.

They already have a history of such bans, including against actors. Earlier they had imposed a ban on writer-director-actor Renji Panicker for allegedly failing to clear payments to theatre owners. They maintained that till the payments were cleared they would not be screening films featuring the actor. They also banned the media and YouTube reviewers from taking FDFS reviews in theatres. They felt such reviews detrimentally affect the box office results of films and also said many reviews are done with ulterior motives. Many directors have also offered their support in this matter. Last year the organisation had shut down theatres for two days demanding an increase in the time gap between theatrical and OTT releases.

Meanwhile, the Kerala Film Producer’s Association has released a statement that Manjummel Boys which is scheduled to hit the screens on the 22 will go ahead with the release. However, the films that are currently running in theatres won't be affected by the ban.