Rajamouli graced the event as the chief guest. As a part of the film's promotion, an online game, KGF, specially designed for Android mobile phones, was released by Mobi2Fun Private Limited for the Google Play Store, which saw more than 5,000 downloads upon its initial release. Release Theatrical On 28 August 2017, the filmmakers announced that KGF will be made as a multilingual film, released in Kannada, Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi languages, marking the first foray of its crew members (including Yash) into different industries. The filmmakers planned to release the film in the second half of 2018. On 19 September 2018, it was announced that the first part of the film will be released on 16 November 2018; however, the release was postponed to 21 December. Distribution The distribution rights for the Kannada version were bought by KRG Studios, a sister company of Hombale Films. The film's Hindi version was distributed by Rithesh Sidhwani, Farhan Akhtar, and Anil Thadani, who bought the rights under their banners Excel Entertainment and AA Films. The rights for the Tamil and Telugu dubbed versions were sold to Vishal Film Factory and Vaaraahi Chalana Chitram. The Malayalam-dubbed rights of the film were sold to Global United Media. Screenings and statistics K.G.F: Chapter 1 received a U/A certificate from the Central Board of Film Certification in early December 2018. It was reported that the film would be released to 1,800–2,200 screens worldwide, the widest ever release for a Kannada film. However, it was later reported that the film was released to 2,460 screens, including 1,500 for the Hindi version, 400 each for Kannada and Telugu, 100 for Tamil and 60 for Malayalam. The advance booking for the shows were started on 16 December 2018, and saw a tremendous response upon its initial bookings. Following its response, the filmmakers allotted early morning shows at 4:00 a.m. for the preview. The film was released in the U.S. and Canada on 20 December 2018 and in India the following day. The day also saw releases in parts of Africa, Hong Kong, New Zealand and parts of Eastern Europe, including Cyprus, the first in these regions for a Kannada film. The film released in Malaysia on 28 December and in United Kingdom on 4 January 2019. The Hindi-dubbed version of the film was released to 71 screens in Pakistan on 11 January and became the first Kannada film