As Lockdown Eases, Movie Theatres Maybe Back In Business

A vaccinated  and  unmasked America has returned  to  movie theatres, A  slew of post-lockdown  hits  in May  –A Quiet  Place 2, Cruella, Fast& Furious 9 , The  Conjuring—have  put   a smile  back on  the   faces of American movie distributors.

And  now,with the  second wave  of Corona  nearing an end in India too,  and movie theatres looking at  unlocking , one hears that  several of  the  long-pending  biggies  which were contemplating  a straight-to-OTT release, including  Rohit Shetty’s Sooryavanshi,  Kabir Khan’s  ’83 , Sanjay  Leela Bhansali’s  Gangubai  Kathiawadi  and  Advait Chandan’s  Lalsingh  Chadha  have gone back  to the original  plan of theatre releases.

According to  reliable sources even Bell Bottom  the  next Akshay Kumar release, whose producers were  in serious negotiations for a straight-to-digital  release, has decided to return to  the  movie theatre.

One  of the  producers from  the  made-for-theatre projects awaiting  release told me, “Don’t quote me on this. But right now this over-optimism, about returning to movie theatres, may  prove shortlived. You  never know which way this unpredictable  pandemic will swing. But yes , with the second wave  on  the wane we are looking at the  possibility  of  a theatre release with a  window  of  30-40  days  before releasing  on OTT. In the US Cruella was released in both theatres and  on  digital simultaneously,  and it’s  hit. Why not  the same release model in India?”