A dispute between Malayalam film producers and the PVR INOX group that halted screening of running hits has escalated into an open war with Mollywood deciding not to screen any of its films through the group until it compensated the losses incurred by pulling out their films.

The open war between the producers and PVR-INOX comes at a time when theatre owners are among the industry stakeholders cashing in on a series of blockbusters from the Malayalam industry such as Brahmayugam, Manjummal Boys, Aadujeevitham, and latest releases such as Aaveshwam, Varshanganlku Shesham and Jai Ganesh.

The films are running in other cinemas across the country.

The dispute between the Kerala Film Producers’ Association (KFPA) and PVR INOX was over the virtual print fee (VPF) — the cost of uploading the digital prints of the movies to each of the theatres screening the movies. Nowadays, instead of using film reels for projection, virtual prints are uploaded through service providers such as QUBE and UFO, with the cost covered by the producers.

Unhappy with the steep cost of digitally uploading their films through QUBE and UFO, the KFPA recently launched their service called Producers’ Digital Content (PDC) which costs only a fraction.

The dispute with PVR INOX started when the producers insisted that the theatres switch to PDC.

Not only did the group reject the producers’ demand, but it also stopped screening all Malayalam films from April 11 at its screens across the country.

The Film Employees Federation of Kerala (Fefka) is considering legal action against PVR INOX and has already discussed the matter with Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan.