Industry reinstates eight-week gap between theatrical and digital release of films

Before the COVID-19 pandemic hit the country in March 2020, films were being streamed on over-the-top (OTT) platforms only eight weeks after their theatrical release.

The window was narrowed to four weeks in the post-pandemic period as few people were venturing into cinema halls with the threat of COVID-19 looming large. Hence, distributors and exhibitors agreed to let producers make some revenue through this rule as OTT players pay more for films that are released on their platforms soon after being released in theatres.

But the window between a film's theatrical and digital release has been widened once again to eight weeks starting Friday 1 July.

Distributor Murli Chhatwani of Panorama Studio Distribution shared the news with Cinestaan.com while sharing some of his analysis for Hindi films not doing so well this year.

“One of the reasons is that we were releasing films directly on OTT too early, in four weeks,” Chhatwani said. “Now, from 1 July, the window is back to eight weeks. So the audience will probably start to realize that movies are not coming as soon as before. The perception and thinking will skew towards theatres.”