As the Central government has poured major relaxations in the fresh guidelines for the fifth phase of the unlocking process towards having a gradual exit from the lockdown, the guidelines had brought huge relief for the theater owners as the government has permitted the resumption of the theaters and cinema halls from October 15. 

Theaters and cinema halls are among the list of the long-time halted services as these establishments have been closed for the past seven months and as the Center has permitted its resumption, all eyes are on the Tamil Nadu government on whether the state government would stick to the guidelines and nod for the resumption. 
 
Ahead of the Center's guidelines, the Tamil Nadu government has issued its guidelines of extending the lockdown for October month in which it had banned the resumption of the theaters, schools, and other events that attract large-scale gatherings as the sequel of the rapid spread of the pandemic. Earlier, the state minister said that the state government would be taking a final call for the resumption of theaters and as in the absence of any such announcements, the theater owners in the state are ought to wait. 

According to reports, the Theatre Owners Association said that it is yet to convene a meeting with the owners as the government hasn't rolled out the regulations and guidelines for the resumption. With the view of copping up to the new normal, the theatre owners are gearing up with the mechanism in encouraging the audience to stick to the new normal like digital transactions, seating with social distancing, extended duration of interval time, and ordering food through mobile to refrain from gathering. 

As per the guidelines of the Central government, the theaters are mandated to function with 50% of occupancy to ensure that there is enough space for social distancing norms. Though the theater owners are mulling to install effective precautions like thermal scanning, checking the temperatures, and sanitizing the premises at regular intervals, they aren't sure whether the resumption with healthcare norms would yield more audiences towards the big screens amid the spread of the COVID-19 outbreak. 

The state of Tamil Nadu accounts for having one of the larger cinematic audiences in the country and though the lockdown had sparked a void between the audience and theaters after the shutdown, the cinema industry has got new feet to fill in the void - OTT platforms as the lockdown had seeded the OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and Hotstar to gain a vast audience across the country and in all languages. 

During the lockdown, OTT platforms had bridged the gap between the fans and movies after taking dozens of multi-language movies directly to the fans, who have now settled up for the movies at their hands. As what could be seemingly irking to the theater owners, they have been protesting against the producers who are releasing their movies through OTT platforms. 

Actor Surya had gone through such protests on releasing 'Ponmagal Vandhal' and 'Soorarai Pottru' on the Amazon Prime. With Ponmagal Vandhal had already been released, Soorarai Pottru will be getting released on October 30 and the theater owners had threatened the actor that they won't release his movies on the big screens. 

With such deelopments and amid the rapid spread of the infection, the government has been examining whether to permit the resumption of theaters in October as per the Centver's guidelines or to defer further. If the government decides to permit the resumption, it has to go by the Center's order of letting 50% occupancy. 

According to reports, if the government allows the resumption, the audiences who wish to watch movies on big screens must wait for a month to watch Tamil movies. After the resumption, Christopher Nolan's 'Tenet' and Disney's 'Mulan' are on the line and expected to get released this month. However, the movies that would relish Tamil audiences Vijay's 'Master' and Dhanush's 'Jagame Thandiram' are less likely to hit the screens by this month.