'2018', first Malayalam film to cross 200 crores worldwide

The undisputed triumph of 2018 at the box office reached 200 crores. The film's producer Venu Kunnappilly announced the news through his social media handle. The film has recently started streaming on SonyLiv.

Directed by Jude Anthany Joseph, the film is co-produced by CK Padma Kumar and Anto Joseph, along with Venu Kunnappilly. 2018 stars an ensemble cast including Tovino Thomas, Kunchacko Boban, Asif Ali, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Lal, Aparna Balamurali, Kalaiyarasan and Narain, among others.

In a conversation with CE, when asked about the film's budget, Venu said, "I'm not planning to disclose it to anyone because Malayalis have this tendency to troll a film based on its budget. But I can say it's around 5-6 times the budget of a normal Malayalam film. We exceeded the originally fixed budget when just 60 per cent of the shoot was completed. But we never stopped production and went ahead with whatever was needed to ensure the film matched international standards." 

Meanwhile, the Film Exhibitors United Organisation of Kerala (FEUOK) has announced a protest closing the cinema halls on June 7th and 8th in response to 2018 being moved to OTT only after 33 days of its theatrical run, which goes against the producers' permitted 42-day window for any film to shift to OTT. 

This copy originally appeared on cinemaexpress.com