Chennai | The Tamil Nadu government issued an order on Monday permitting all cinema halls across the state to screen five shows daily for the first seven days of a new film's release as well as on all weekends, public holidays, and local festival days.

According to an official release issued by the Director of Information and Public Relations, Chief Minister C Joseph Vijay passed the order following a representation from representatives of the Tamil film industry on May 16.

Previously, under Condition 14-A of the 'Form C' license of the Tamil Nadu Cinemas (Regulation) Rules, 1957, theatres were restricted to screening four shows a day. Special fifth shows were only permitted on local festival days or public holidays with prior approval from district collectors or the Chennai police commissioner.

Following the Chief Minister's decision, the Tamil Nadu Cinemas (Regulation) Rules have been amended. Under the new guidelines, theatres can now screen five shows daily during the first week of a new Tamil movie release, as well as on all weekends (Saturdays and Sundays), public holidays, and local festival days.

The statement further clarified that theatre owners will no longer require separate, individual permissions from the government or licensing authorities to run these five daily shows during the stipulated periods.