2018 director Jude Anthany Joseph: When Pulimurugan released, theatre owners cancelled all shows of my film

Kerala theatre owners had decided to go on strike for two days, on June 7 and June 8, in protest of the early OTT release of director Jude Anthany Joseph’s blockbuster 2018. The film exhibitors’ body, FEUOK, had alleged that the producer was supposed to play the movie for 42 days in theatres before releasing it on an OTT platform, but instead it began streaming on Sony LIV on its 33rd day after the release on May 5.

In an exclusive chat with OTTplay, Jude says, “It’s their decision to strike, but if a movie is bad, they would immediately replace it with something else. They wouldn’t wait till its OTT release. Theatre owners look after their interest.” Earlier in the week, the director had posted on his social media page that his method has always been to ensure that his producer’s investment is safe.

Also read: 2018 director Jude Anthany Joseph: I think I achieved my aim of being one of the top directors in India 5 years too late 

Jude also pointed out an example from 2016 when his movie Oru Muthassi Gadha’s shows were cancelled to make way for Mohanlal’s Pulimurugan, which had held the record for being the highest grossing Malayalam movie till 2018 surpassed it this year, with a worldwide box office gross of over Rs 175 crore.

Also read: 2018's OTT release ruined its chance of becoming the first ever Malayalam film to gross Rs 200 Cr: FEUOK president 

“In 2016, when my movie Oru Muthassi Gadha, which was a comparatively small film, was doing decently in theatres for a month, Pulimurugan released. Every theatre took my movie off. I had asked the distributors if they had retained it in at least 10 theatres, people would have still watched it. But they said Pulimurugan was a big movie and they didn’t have an alternative,” he explains.

Though the film exhibitors had protested the 2018 producer’s decision to release the film on OTT early, they also admitted that the success of the movie helped them clear a lot of liabilities this year. “There’s a theatre that I frequently go to and the staff there have told me that they were planning to make it into a wedding auditorium. But they decided against it because of 2018. That said, if my next movie is bad, they would cancel the shows within two days,” Jude concludes.

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