2018 Box Office Collection Day 24: Tovino Thomas-Starrer Becomes Highest Grossing Malayalam Movie, Crosses Rs 150-Crore Mark

2018 Box Office Collection Day 24: The Malayalam survival drama 2018, inspired by the Kerala floods, has become the highest-grossing Malayalam film of all time, surpassing the previous record set by Mohanlal's Pulimurugan in 2016. Over the weekend, the film by Jude Anthany Joseph, crossed the Rs 150 crore mark in global box office earnings.

The movie, which hit the theatres on Friday, was not only released in Malayalam but also dubbed and released in Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi. The cast includes Tovino Thomas, Kunchako Boban, Asif Ali, Vineeth Srinivasan, Aparna Balamurali, Kalaiarasan, and several others.

Also read: 2018: Tovino Thomas's Survival Thriller's Hindi Version Gears For Pan-India Release On This Date

As per Sacnilk report, on day 24, the movie earned Rs 4.20 crore. As of Sunday, the movie has grossed Rs 153 crore globally. In Kerala, the film has amassed Rs 80.24 crore and is still running successfully at the box office. The report also mentioned that the performance of the Hindi version of the film fell short of expectations.

Produced with a budget of approximately Rs 20 crore, the film 2018 initially received an average response on its release day. However, it gained momentum from the second day onward due to highly positive word-of-mouth. During its opening weekend, the film grossed over Rs 30 crore worldwide.

Controversies surrounding 2018:

One week after its release, the film faced strong criticism from P S Sreekala, the director of Kerala's Knowledge Economy Mission. In a Facebook post, she expressed her disapproval, stating that the film contains factual distortions and falsehoods. Sreekala also emphasised the importance of proper research by the director. In her post, she highlighted that the film inaccurately portrays the chief minister as helpless, whereas he played a crucial role in leading the rescue operations.

As reported by Onmanorama, Sreekala wrote, "Presentation of half-truths is as dangerous and scandalous as propaganda. Cinema is an area that has benefited greatly from the development of technology. It is in this context that some films needn’t be celebrated. On the contrary, it would be a pity not to use such possibilities according to the content. But it is a clever strategy to harness the best of technology to turn cinema into a strategy that is even more effective if the director knows his craft.

"Jude Anthany has applied that strategy well in the film. The director was heard saying that this film was born out of his guilt. I don't know if he really said that. If he has said that then the guilt should come from the unscientific observation that the opening of the dam was the cause of the 2018 floods. And the film more or less tries to establish that theory to an extent."