Thudarum OTT Release Delay: Drama Surrounds Mohanlal's Blockbuster Industry Hit

At the start of the year, legendary Malayalam actor Mohanlal was on a flop streak. Barroz and Malaikottai Vaaliban, two of Mohanlal's biggest box-office failures, had a significant impact on his subsequent films. Surprisingly enough, his small film Thudarum ended up a giant box-office success.

Due to Mohanlal's consecutive failures, the makers quickly closed Thudarum's OTT deal to ensure safety and security before the film's release in theaters. Surprisingly, Thudarum earned over Rs.220 crores at the box office in just three weeks.

The outcome is a significant surprise in South Indian cinema, demonstrating the inaccuracy of box-office predictions. Mohanlal's release before Thudarum, L2:Empuraan, also ended up raking in huge numbers at the box office, but when you consider return on investment purely, Thudarum is a giant hit.

It's also the third highest grosser ever in the history of Malayalam cinema. Now, it's reported that JioHotstar acquired the streaming rights for Thudarum for a whopping Rs.20 crores, and this is a huge amount by any star's standards. The makers and JioHotstar engaged in back-and-forth negotiations, which meant that Thudarum's streaming release date wasn't initially decided when the movie was released.

Now, owing to the film's blockbuster success, the makers are further requesting a delay in Thudarum's streaming release, and it remains to be seen when they will finally land a release date. As the film continues to perform well theatrically, even in the third and fourth weeks, JioHotstar is listening to the makers' request to postpone the movie's OTT release.

Thudarum was initially supposed to release on the streaming platform sometime this week. However, JioHotstar will now release the movie in the first week of June. The case of Thudarum is a realistic lesson in the unpredictability of the box office and how audience behavior can never really be analyzed.