TFI Hits N Misses: Half Yearly Report – 2013

And that is the end of the first half of the year at the box office. It has a been quite an exciting year so far at the mid point with almost all the top stars having a release each barring one. Let’s have a look at the results of the films released so far this year.

• January
• February
• March
• April
• May
• June

This Sankranthi season saw one of the biggest clashes at the box office in recent memories. It was Superstar Mahesh Babu and Victory Venkatesh taking on Megapower Star Ram Charan at the ticket window. This clash showcased the importance of distributors to the industry as both films held its own in the territories with good distributors. Also while it was exciting for the fans on both sides and trade following the clash, the films in reality just about managed to scrape through with marginal profits to its distributors barring a territory or two where they had good profits.

Satruvu and Sevakudu were nonstarters to begin with while many didn’t even know films like Case Number 666 and 916 KDM Prema released.

There were many dubbed releases this month among which Vetadu Ventadu, Dandupalyam and Vishwaroopam were noticeable releases. Among the three Vishwaroopam created the most buzz thanks to its controversy. It opened poorly in the opening weekend but sustained well in the later weeks in big cities of AP. However it was limited to few screens. Vetadu Ventadu was a quick fade as well. But the real surprise success was the Kannada dubbed film Dandupalyam which came with ridiculously low price for dub and did very well across the state on limited screens. At places it even had more than 50 days run on shift.

Super hit- None
Hit- SVSC, Naayak
Above Average – Dandupalyam
Flop – Vishwaroopam

February began on a disastrous note with Ram starrer Ongole Gitta being declared a dud at the box office thus ending the dream of a successful comeback by director Bhaskar. Things however were back to normal with Young Rebel Star Prabhas’s Mirchi which opened with mixed talk leaning on positive side and it grew from strength to strength with each passing day to finally emerge as a solid blockbuster universally. It’s no wonder that it is the highest grossing of the year so far in AP.

Siddharth continued his poor run in Telugu films with Jabardasth which released with decent expectations due to it being from the director of Ala Modaliandi and starring Samantha in lead and Nithya Menen in supporting roles. While the film failed at the box office a new chemistry seems to have developed elsewhere causing a lot of heart burn among the youth.

Okkadine and Chammak Challo too released in the month. Despite the presence of Catherine Tresa (making her debut in Telugu with Chammak Challo) and Nithya Menen both the films were washouts at the box office. If Ongole Gittha has set the precedence for the disastrous start of the month among direct Telugu films, Kadali did the same for the dubbed ones. Kadali was not just a washout it was beyond such terms. The film had to cancel many shows in few towns due to lack of audience on the first day itself. And in many places the run came to an end by the weekend. And if one thought nothing can out do it in terms of poor run, a film called David released starring; hold your breath, Vikram and Jeeva. Oh, yes, it did release.

Pizza bucked the trend in that it had a decent run but it came virtually with no promotion or hype and before the word of mouth spread and the film started to get beyond decent run, it was removed for other releases.

Blockbuster – Mirchi
Super Hit- none
Below Average to Flop – Pizza
Disaster – Ongole Gittha, Jabardasth
Washouts – Kadali, David, Chammak Challo, Okkadine

It was a horrible month for Telugu film industry with none of the releases managing to make a mark at the ticket counter except one Swamy Ra Ra. Films like Sunil starrer Mr. Pellikoduku, Manchu Lakshmi’s Gundello Godari (managed to do well at few places due to low price), Backbench Student, Aravind 2 and Jaffa everything failed to take off.

It was a similar situation for the dubbed films as well as none managed to create an impression barring RGV’s The Attacks of 26/11 which had decent openings in its first weekend giving rise to a false hope of success but it fizzled soon after the weekend despite good reviews overall. Meanwhile Young Rebel Star Mirchi continued its fantastic performance all through this month as well.

Hit – Swamy Ra Ra
Flop – Mr. Pellikoduku, Gundello Godari
Disasters – Backbench Student, Aravind 2, Jaffa, Bad Boy, The Attacks of 26/11

The summer of Telugu cinema began with what was promoted as a blockbuster long before the release itself, Young Tiger NTR’s Baadshah. Unfortunately it couldn’t be the blockbuster it was promoted to be. What’s more, in what can be termed as surprise, it couldn’t even recover the high prices in many areas of AP, it was sold for. It’s surprising because the film had more than decent talk working for it which could be seen with its overseas, Nizam, Ceded and Karnataka collections. The same can’t be said of other areas in AP though.

The real success of the month however was Nithin’s Gunde Jari Gallanthayyindi, which opened to a fantastic response and maintained it throughout its run emerging as a true blockbuster for its distributors. Nithin crossed 20 Cr mark with this movie and the pair of Ishq, Nithin and Nithya Menen added another success to their kitty.

There were two more talked about releases in the same month and both met with a fate that wasn’t very surprising to anyone. We are talking about the Meher Ramesh directed Victory Venkatesh starrer Shadow and Allu Sirish’s debut venture Gauravam. The former was a disaster and the latter was a washout with the trade believing that the overall collections of the film were less than a crore in AP.

Amidst all these Uday Kiran had a release in the form of Jai Sreeram and Siddharth had a release in the form of dubbed NH4. No one even seems to have bothered about them unfortunately.

Blockbuster – Gunde Jari Gallanthayyinde
Hit – none
Below average to average- Baadshah
Disaster – Shadow
Washout – Gauravam, Jai Sreeram, NH4

The month May literally starved our Telugu cinema lovers with lack of biggies. Only four noticeable films released in the month. It was a clash of father and son at the box office in the first two weeks with Akkineni Nagarjuna coming as Greeku Veerudu and son Naga Chaitanya arriving after a long gap with Thadaka with Sunil for his company. Greeku Veerudu failed to make it big and Thadaka proved to be an interesting case.

Thadaka got good summer release, there was ample of glamour quotient in the film along with action and it got good word of mouth too. But alas, the movie couldn’t bring in the viewers into the theaters that would have been appropriate for the talk it generated. In the end the movie couldn’t cross individual highest of either Naga Chaitanya or Sunil despite having much bigger release compared to their previous highest.

Adi came up with Sukumarudu trying to complete a hat-trick of successful films but failed miserably. The movie was a mess and it ended up being a washout at the box office.

Finally the biggest release of the month Iddarammayilatho starring Stylish Star Allu Arjun arrived on the last day. It opened with mixed talk leaning more towards negative and maintained a decent run for about 10 days. It then saw huge drops and finally folded up crossing the 30 Cr mark. Still it was a losing proposition for all its distributors and is a flop.

Hit – none
Average – Thadaka
Flop – Iddarammayilatho, Greeku Veerudu
Washout – Sukumarudu

With all the biggies released and schools opened, it was time for the small films to take over. In the first week itself as many as three films (Prema Katha Chitram, Pavitra, and Theater Lo) released. The second week saw two releases Something Something and Saradaga Ammayitho.

All the films opened to poor houses initially. However Prema Katha Chitram picked up as days progressed thanks to the superb word of mouth coupled with good publicity. The film is still running with decent numbers at places. Siddharth and Hansika starrer lacked any pre-release buzz which was visible in openings. However it got decent word of mouth. But as no care what so ever was taken on the promotional front the film never showed any signs of pick up. The less said about Varun Sandesh’s Saradaga Ammayitho, the better.

June 21 say the release of Action 3D starring Allari Naresh and co. The film opened well and nosedived immediately after the weekend. It marked the directorial debut of Anil Sunkara who also produced the film. If the talk doing the rounds in the industry regarding the budget of the movie is true, then it’s surely joins the ranks of films with colossal losses.

Nevertheless the biggest punch of the month was reserved for the last and final Friday which concludes our mid-year report. Balupu starring Mass Maharaj Ravi Teja released on June 28 and has finally ended the long streak of failures for the actor. The film has got fantastic openings (biggest for the actor) and is expected to be a Super hit, at the minimum.

Super hit – Balupu*
Hit – Prema Katha Chitram
Flop – Soemthing Something
Washout – Pavithra, Theater Lo, Saradaga Ammayitho, Action 3D

*Balupu is still running and its verdict is an early estimate.

A note on the verdicts:
We have observed that there is a lot of confusion regarding how we have arrived at a particular verdict for a film. Here is the methodology that we have taken and mind you it is a lenient one as terms should be a lot stricter. There are 8 territories in AP according to the trade. Our verdicts are strictly based on the recovery of the film from distribution perspective. Satellite rights and audio etc rights are not counted as they are mostly beneficial for the producer.

Washout: More than 75% loss in all territories
Disaster: Non recovery in all areas and more than 50% loss.
Flop: 25%-50% loss in all areas
Below Average: Breakeven or Marginal profits in 2 areas
Average: Breakeven or Marginal profits in 4 areas
Above Average: Breakeven or Marginal profits in 6 areas
Hit: Breakeven or Marginal profits in all areas