The Malayalam movie industry and multiplex major PVR Cinemas seem to be on a collision course after the latter declined to release the much anticipated festive season Malayalam movies in their screens following a dispute over content-sharing.
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PVR Cinemas did not release Fahadh Faasil-starrer Aavesham, Vineeth Sreenivasan-directorial Varshangalkku Shesham, and Unni Mukundan-starrer Jai Ganesh, which were released on Thursday, in their screens. The multiplex major also reportedly stopped screening the previously released Malayalam films Premalu, Manjummal Boys, and Aadujeevitham. PVR Cinemas officials could not be reached for a response.
The Kerala Film Producers’ Association and the Kerala Film Distributors’ Association in a joint statement issued here said that they would not cooperate with PVR Cinemas unless the multiplex major compensated the producers’ loss on account of not releasing the new films and taking down the Malayalam movies being screened.
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The Kerala Film Producers’ Association had recently launched PDC (Producers’ Digital Cinema), a content mastering unit, after producers and distributors found the virtual print fee (VPF) being charged by existing content providers like Qube, UFO, PXD, and TSR to screen movies in theatres too high. The objective of PDC is to screen movies at a reasonable cost, the release said.
At present, the PDC-mastered content is mostly being given to theatres, which screen movies using their own projector and server. An understanding has been reached with other theatres to shift to PDC once their ongoing agreement with other content providers expired. Producers and distributors were still cooperating by paying exorbitant VPF towards the rent of projectors provided by content providers in the hope that a solution would be found in due course, the statement said.
When PVR Cinemas decided to open nine new screens at the newly opened Forum Mall in Kochi with their own projector and server, producers demanded that Malayalam films be released there at a low VPF using PDC-mastered content. However, PVR Cinemas insisted that they would release Malayalam films only if producers agreed to the high VPF fixed by Qube.
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“When we informed them that this was unacceptable, they declined to release the three Ramzan-Vishu releases in their screens and took down the movies already being screened,” the statement said.
Anti-competitive
In a statement issued over X, the PVR authorities said that forcing an exhibitor to source Malayalam content from only one source, through the content mastering and distribution network run by the producers’ association, “is anti-competitive in nature and prohibited under the law.” As a law-abiding member of the film industry, we are unable to abide by this,” the statement said.
“We will be delighted to have all Malayalam films play at PVR Forum Kochi and all our other cinemas in Kerala as well as Pan-India. We would like to appeal to all producers and filmmakers to constructively engage with us and help us make the Malayalam film industry bigger and better,” the statement said.