Cinemas that reopened in Tamil Nadu after a week’s protest against the local body tax are barely seeing 20 per cent occupancy with no new movie releases.

But with the tiff between Tamil Film Producers Council and Digital Service Providers (DSPs) continuing, there has been no new releases from March 1 over Virtual Print Fee and production activities heve been stalled from March 16 in the State. Theatre owners said they will start playing dramas and screen IPL matches if the situation continues.

Close to 950 cinemas across the State, barring 146 in Chennai, were shut down on March 16 to protest against 8 per cent local body tax levied by the State government over the Goods and Services Tax. Tirupur Subramani, a Tamil film distributor and cinema owner, said after the meeting with the representatives, the State government has agreed to waive off local body tax after looking at GST earnings. “With our demands met, we decided to start screening from Friday with old reruns and other-language movies,” he said.

‘Lack of uniformity’

However, the occupancy rate is at an all-time low at 10-20 per cent. “In one week, the industry has suffered a loss of ₹200 crore. We have sought permission to screen plays and IPL matches if the tiff between producers and DSPs continues,” he said.

From March 16 production activities of Tamil films have stopped over the Virtual Print Fee issue. However, actor Vijay’s movie was given permission to shoot by the Tamil Film Producers Council.“We will see more of this happening. There is no uniformity and as more people break free, the strike is likely to end soon,” an industry source said.

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