Big-budget films keep TN box office in positive zone

Despite an increasing number of people testing positive for Covid-19 in the second wave, more people are taking refuge in the world of films, according to footfalls at cinema halls across Tamil Nadu. But all eyes are for the big banners, stars and action that the big screen experience makes even better. A line up of big film content over the past few weeks has ensured steady collections at the box office, making both producers and theatre owners happy, while small-budget films remain more of an OTT hit.

While a film like ‘Sultan was lucky to release on April 2, when theatres were permitted to let in audience up to 100% of a theatre capacity, the latest Tamil hit ‘Karnan’ could enjoy that opportunity for just the opening day, when it released on April 9. The state government introduced a fresh round of Covid restrictions on April 10 in an attempt to curb the alarming increase in Covid positive numbers in Tamil Nadu and theatres were limited to allow patrons only up to 50% of their capacity. Interestingly ‘Karnan’ made the same money in one week that ‘Sultan’ made in two weeks.

For the small-budget films, success has been elusive. "It is not just about good content. It also has to be big. Unlike the Telugu film industry, where the audience loves the theatre experience and ensures small films with good content, such as ‘Uppena’, become big hits, the Tamil audience wants to venture to theatres now only for films big stars," said G Dhananjayan, vice-president, Tamil Nadu Active Film Producers Association (TNAFPA).

His film ‘Kabadadaari’ was one among several small films that did not do well at the box office in the past five months.

"I did a social media research. The Tamil audience are clear that small films are for small screen (OTT and television channels) and the big-budget films are for the big screen. They would venture out, despite the pandemic, only for those and are not willing to take that risk for small films. There is a paradigm shift in the way the audience now looks at a film. As a result even the business model in the way small films are produced need to be looked at," Dhananjayan said.

For the big banners, the going has been good for the past three weeks, but the industry is anxious whether it can sustain this.

"First ‘Sultan’ did well at the box office and now ‘Karnan’ is having a good run with youngsters thronging theatres. But family audience is yet to return to theatres like the pre-pandemic days. Despite that, the collections are decent and we can sail through if this sustains by lining up good films regularly in the coming weeks. But there is also a fear in the industry that more restrictions could be imposed like night curfew, which could do away with night shows or lockdown during weekends. We do not know. But if imposed, it could affect the industry," said S R Prabhu, who produced ‘Sultan’.

"During normal times too single screens across Tamil Nadu over the past five years have been reporting an occupancy of a mere 30%-35%. Hence the 50% capacity restriction has not really affected theatre collections. Film producers should understand this and line up their films for release without waiting for eternity. This will help the industry to safely tide over the Covid crisis," said leading distributor and exhibitor Tirupur K Subramanian.

Multiplexes, which account for 70% of the theatre collections despite accounting for only 30% of the total number of screens across the state, are not complaining. If there is a sustained demand for tickets on weekdays, they operate an additional screen, since not all screens in a multiplex run all the four shows barring weekends.

Weekdays normally only the evening shows do well. Hence, even for multiplexes, the average occupancy would work out around 30% only. "It was ‘Master’, which released for Pongal festival weekend, that brought people back to theatres and the film did well at the box office for almost a month, when it was released on OTT. The collections fell drastically after that, while theatres were starved of big content for almost another month. Then ‘Godzilla Vs Kong’ happened. While the English version did average business, the Tamil dubbed version had a great run for over two weeks," said K Meenakshi Sundaram, vice-president, Mayajaal, the 16-screen multiplex on East Coast Road.

Are there enough big films to be lined up for release in the coming weeks? For April 23, ‘MGR Magan’, a medium-budget film starring actor Sasikumar has been confirmed. The month of May could see the release of actor Siva Karthikeyan’s ‘Doctor’ on May 13. Vijay Sethupathi’s ‘Yaadhum Oore, Yaavarum Kelir’ and Vijay Antony’s ‘Kodiyil Oruvan’ could also hit the theatres next month, but no official word is out yet on them. In the case of actor Ajit Kumar’s ‘Valimai’, there could just be an update, as has been the film’s trend off late.

"No hero from any language is sitting at home. Everyone is out busy shooting. But not many are getting ready for the release, as many are waiting for a conducive time. For the present that looks likely to be year 2022," said an industry expert.