[Updated February 28, 2022]

The Tamil Nadu government has announced that it is withdrawing state-wide night curfews from January 28, 2022 i.e. today and Sunday lockdowns from January 30, 2022. This means that the working hours of a movie theater are returning back to normal albeit at 50% seating occupancy.

Movie Theaters in Tamil Nadu: 2020-2022 Timeline

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• Mid-March 2020: Cinema halls shut-down statewide due to global pandemic.
• November 10, 2020: Movie theaters re-open at 50% occupancy after remaining closed for 8 months.
• December 31, 2020: TN Govt. allows 100% occupancy in movie theaters.
• January 5, 2021: Center orders TN Govt. to revoke 100% occupancy with immediate effect.
• February 1, 2021: TN Govt. brings back 100% seating capacity in theater halls.
• April 10, 2021: Surge in COVID-19 causes theaters to go back to 50% seating.
• April 26, 2021: Movie theaters statewide are completely shut for the second time.
• August 23, 2021: Theaters re-open with 50% occupancy after 4 months. 
• November 1, 2021: Movie Theaters allowed to function at 100% occupancy.
• December 31, 2021: TN Govt orders 50% occupancy till January 10, 2022 due to Omicron scare.
• January 6, 2022: Movie theaters operate at 50% occupancy and are shut-down between 10 PM - 5: 00 AM and on Sundays.
• January 28, 2022: Movie Theaters back to full operating hours with 50% occupancy.

• February 16, 2022: 100% occupancy allowed for the first time in 2022.

This in-turn has caused a reshuffle in the release dates of Tamil movies scheduled to come out on the big screens. Find below the tentative release date of films, that are scheduled to release in the state for now:

• Veeramae Vaagai Soodum (Vishal) - February 4, 2022 (Official)
• FIR (Vishnu Vishal) - February 11, 2022 (Official)
• Valimai (Ajith) - February 24, 2022 (Movies from hereon open to 100% occupancy)
  
• Hey Sinamika (Dulquer Salmaan) - March 3, 2022
• Etharkkum Thunindhavan (Suriya) - March 10, 2022
• Radhe Shyam (Tamil Dubbed) - March 11, 2022
  
• RRR (Tamil Dubbed) - March 25, 2022 (Official)
• Don (Sivakarthikeyan) - March 25, 2022 (Official) / May 12, 2022 (Expected)
• Kaathu Vaakula Rendu Kaadhal (Vijay Sethupathi) - April 28, 2022
• Yaanai (Arun Vijay) - May 6, 2022
• Beast (Vijay) - April 14, 2022
• KGF 2 (Tamil Dubbed) - April 14, 2022