After months of anxious wait, people have started visiting theaters in Kerala, as Jude Anthany Joseph's new movie '2018' based on the deadly Kerala floods has become a sensation at the box office.
The film, upon its release on May 05 received unanimously positive reviews from critics and alike, and within four days, the film has collected more than Rs 32 crore worldwide.
2018: Reviving Malayalam cinema
Most of the critics who watched this movie praised Jude Anthany Joseph for his impeccable cinematic language and uncompromising treatment of the subject. The film is being made with international standards, and the flick successfully took the audiences to those days when millions of Keralites were on the verge of death following a deadly flood.
Tovino Thomas has played the lead role in the movie, while Kunchakko Boban, Asif Ali, Vineeth Sreenivasan, Narain, and Lal portrayed other prominent roles.
Considering the positive reviews and the current booking trends, 2018 is showing all probabilities to emerge as the biggest hit in Mollywood, and some industry experts predict that the film may even break the collection records of Pulimurugan and Lucifer.
Kerala theaters packed with crowd
Earlier, several theater owners in Kerala shared their worries that audiences are not coming to big screens due to the impact of OTT platforms. However, 2018 has ended this phenomenon, and the success of this film clearly indicates that audiences will come to theaters if the film demands a big screen watch.
And now, industry experts believe that the Mollywood box-office will soon rebound as several big budget flicks like King of Kotha, and Mohanlal's Malaikottai Valiban will soon hit the theaters.
2018 is written by Jude Anthany Joseph and Akhil P Dharmajan. The film is produced by Venu Kunnappilly, C. K. Padma Kumar, and Anto Joseph.
