The Tamil Film Producers Council maintained its halt on new theatrical releases on Monday, escalating a dispute with streaming platforms over demands for an eight-week gap before films appear on OTT services. The stoppage has frozen the Tamil release calendar across Tamil Nadu.

The Council announced the halt last week, arguing that early digital availability was eroding cinema footfall and damaging producers' theatrical recoveries. It has sought commitments from Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ Hotstar to honour a uniform eight-week window before streaming premieres.

Exhibitors and theatre owners in Chennai and Coimbatore have broadly backed the producers, saying shrinking windows have hurt weekday collections for mid-budget titles. Several films slated for release in late August have been pushed back while negotiations continue, according to Council statements.

The deadlock threatens to disrupt one of India's most productive regional industries during a commercially important stretch, following recent local successes such as the thriller 'Irumudi'. Distributors warned that a prolonged halt could push scheduled films toward crowded festival release dates later in the year.

Council representatives said they remained open to talks with streaming platforms and hoped to reach an agreement that protected theatrical business without indefinitely blocking new titles.