VISITOR COLUMN

As you see the title of the column, you would be surprised on what is this all about. This is an article from a common man who follows Tamil cinemas.

In the first quarter of 2014, almost 60 Tamil movies were released. This is a biggest count which we can imagine of. When we analyse on the number of movies succeeded in the 1 Q , it is almost 6 (Veeram, Jilla, Goli Soda, Thegidi, , Nimirnthu Nil and Idhu Kathirvelan Kadhal) , while none of them are blockbusters and the last 4 from that list are just average box office registers.

Let’s do a mathematical breakdown

Avg .No of movies releasing per month – 20

Avg .No of movies releasing per week – 3

Percentage of movies succeeded in 1 Q – 10%

Percentage of movies failed in 1 Q – 90%

With ~ 3 releases happening every week, how could we expect a common man to watch out for those movies and enter into the theatre? Because of this, many theatres throw a movie out in a week when they get a bad/mixed review and started to showcase the next release. Best example I can bring here is Rummy which could have done some additional collections if there are not multiple releases queued up. Even Vijay S next movie PP released the very next week after Rummy release.

Even some good movies like Aaha Kalyanam, Vallinam, Nedunchaalai , Pannaiyarum Padminiyum couldn’t hang in the box office because of so many releases. These movies could have been hit ones.

So multiple releases affect even a good product.

Now when we look at the failure percentage, it is almost 90. Do the producers really know what they are doing here? They are facing loss which directly impacts the distributors.

When we look at the movies which go unreleased, there are in big numbers.

Producers can’t keep on making movies without understanding the nerve of the audiences and even a good movie can’t sustain in theatres when we have ~ 20 releases per month.

It’s time to think and come up with an idea here. I’m not against producers and new talents building on Tamil cinemas, it’s time to think if we can release these many movies.