Last Updated: Feb 3, 2021

Indian films, especially big budget entertainers and potential crowd-pullers have been hesitant to release in theater screens for the past one year. Coronavirus pandemic aside, a release on the big screen was not considered economically feasible, until Vijay's Master happened. 

The Tamil movie was one of the first significant Indian films to premiere in theaters during COVID-19, and the box-office numbers it generated seems to have prompted a lot of other Indian movies to follow suit.

Over the last few days, several big budget movies have announced their decision to release in theaters, joining the ones that had already decided on supporting theater owners alongside Master. 

While Tamil actors Ajith, Simbu and Dhanush have been firm on releasing their respective films Valimai, Maanaadu, Karnan and Jagame Thandhiram in theaters only, these new movies have joined the theatrical release rooster:

• Chakra - Vishal (Tamil) - February 19, 2021
• Marakkar Arabikadalinte Simham - Mohanlal (Malayalam) - March 26, 2021
• Doctor - Sivakarthikeyan (Tamil) - March 26, 2021
• Sulthan - Karthi (Tamil) - April 2, 2021
• Karnan - Dhanush (Tamil) - April, 2021
• Radhe - Salman Khan (Hindi) - May 14, 2021 (Yet to Confirm)
• KGF 2 - Yash (Kannada) - July 30, 2021 (Yet to Confirm)
• Valimai - Ajith (Tamil) - August 15, 2021 (Yet to Confirm)
• RRR - Ram Charan, Jr, NTR (Telugu) - October 13, 2021
• Annaatthe - Rajinikanth (Tamil) - November 4, 2021
• Ayalaan - Sivakarthikeyan (Tamil) - December 24, 2021 (Yet to Confirm)

Vikram's Cobra and Vijay Sethupathi's Thuglak Durbar are others films that are expected to hit theater screens this year.