Mohanlal’s ‘Drishyam 2’ to release in the UAE, Gulf regions

NEW DELHI: Mohanlal’s Malayalam language crime thriller Drishyam 2 that started streaming on Amazon Prime Video this February will now release in theatres in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, and Oman.

The Jeethu Joseph directed film is not the first OTT offering to be taken to cinemas for lack of content to show. Zee Studios, which brought its Ishaan Khatter and Ananya Pandey-starrer Khaali Peeli to its pay-per-view service Zee Plex last October, later released the film in cinemas in the US, Netherlands, Singapore, Austria, Fiji, and Mauritius, as well as other African countries.

Akshay Kumar’s Laxmmi Bomb, which premiered on Disney+Hotstar in India, simultaneously released in theatres across Australia, the UAE and New Zealand. Disney’s other direct-to-digital films Dil Bechara, Sadak 2 and Lootcase also arrived in theatres in Australia.

This May, the lack of fresh content had compelled movie theatres in the US to premiere Netflix’s new film Army of the Dead, a week before it became available on the service. The Zack Synder directed film made $780,000 over its opening weekend even as multiplex chains in India remained clear they would not play Salman Khan’s Radhe which released on Zee’s pay-per-view service ZeePlex for Eid the same month.

To be sure, Indian multiplex owners have long remained adamant on exclusive theatrical windows and not premiering movies that have either had an OTT (over-the-top streaming platform) release or would seek one on the same day. Cinema owners and film-makers across India were in panic mode after Hollywood studio Warner Bros announced a unique, hybrid distribution model for its 2021 movie releases last December, all of which shall hit cinema screens the same day as their premiere on the company’s video streaming platform HBO Max. The move could prove to be a game changer for the film business across the globe, they said.