Manjummel Boys Might Not Drop On OTT Anytime Soon! (Photo Credit –Instagram)
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Recently, Teja Sajja’s Telugu film HanuMan, which was supposed to be released on Zee 5, did not drop on the platform, and the audiences were asked to wait. Meanwhile, the film was confirmed to be released in Hindi digitally after its Hindi world premiere. Now, the Malayalam film Manjummel Boys also seems to face an OTT dilemma.
While the audiences are eagerly awaiting for the survival thriller to drop digitally, the makers have yet not found the right deal for the film. The best price that has been offered is around 10 crore.
However, after the film has already collected almost 130 crore in theaters worldwide, the makers of Manjummel Boys do not want to budge from their 20 crore quote for digital rights.
However, in recent times, the Malayalam industry and other South Indian industries have experienced a shift in OTT pricing. Earlier, while the films were selling like hotcakes on OTT after their theatrical release, now, the OTT giants believe that buying a film that performed well at the box office might not be a profitable deal for the OTT.
Commenting on the situation, trade analyst Sreedhar Pillai took to his X account and disclosed, “There are no takers for the OTT rights of the super mega-blockbuster Manjummel Boys as the producers are demanding 20 crore! The highest offer received is for 10.5 crore for all languages, which the producers say is too little. A year back, the big 3 – Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Disney Hotstar would have grabbed it for 20+! The streaming platforms also point out that the film has become a mega blockbuster in theatres and can now be released on OTT only after 2 to 3 months. So, it does not make sense to buy at fancy prices.”
The trade analyst also discussed how other South Indian flicks, like Aadu Jeevitham – The Goat Life and Varshangalkku Shesham, are still trying to find the correct deal before their theatrical releases. Even Tamil films with big names have been waiting for good deals. The buying has come down to a trickle, and the cost of acquisition has been slashed by 50 percent, pointer the trade analyst.
Amongst the past few releases, only Premalu (all languages except Telugu) and Bramayugam (all languages) managed to crack decent deals.
Now that Manjummel Boys is not dropping on OTT anytime soon and even Taja Sajja’s HanuMan has been delayed without any proper reason, hope things get sorted amongst the producers and the OTT giants and we get to enjoy these beautiful films on our screens soon!
