Tovino’s 2018 set to overtake Pulimurugan’s domestic box office record of Rs 85 crore ahead of OTT release

There’s no stopping the box office juggernaut that director Jude Anthany Joseph’s 2018 has become. The film, which has already become the highest grossing Malayalam film of all time, is all set to break the only other record standing its way from Pulimurugan, ahead of its OTT release on June 7.

The disaster drama, starring Tovino Thomas, Asif Ali, Kunchacko Boban, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Lal, Narain and Aparna Balamurali, is set to overtake Pulimurugan’s domestic box office collection record of Rs 85.7 crore this weekend. The film, which released on May 5, has managed to collect Rs 84 crores from Kerala theatres within a month.

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While there was a drop in the box office collection of the film from Kerala after its OTT release was announced a few days ago, the movie is still running strong in select centres, especially the multiplexes across the State, giving it enough legs to break Pulimurugan’s record that was set almost seven years ago.

Kerala film exhibitors have had a rule of not screening Malayalam movies after their OTT release. This was followed hard and fast for all major films till now, including Fahadh Faasil’s Pachuvum Athbutha Vilakkum that was withdrawn from most theatres after its Amazon Prime Video release on May 26 despite the movie seeing increasing footfalls the week before.

But with 2018 being a record grosser for the industry and also coming as a relief for theatre exhibitors and distributors, it remains to be seen if Film Exhibitors United Organisation Of Kerala (FEUOK) will let the movie play in theatres, at least till it becomes the first ever Malayalam film to gross Rs 100 crore in Kerala. Meanwhile, the film, which was released in other languages on May 26, has already grossed Rs 160 crore in worldwide box office gross. This week, it was also released in Nepal.