Release Fatigue : How Many Releases is too many ?

 

When the lockdown began last year Dhanush's Jagame Thandhiram was offered a lucrative price to directly release in Netflix but the film's producer Sashikanth Shivaji was confident on sticking to releasing in theaters after he saw the visual output. Nearly 9 months later, Netflix urged Sashikanth to reconsider their offer and this time it looks like they will have their way. 

Why would a producer opt for direct OTT release at a time when Master was still running packaged the weekend after it started streaming on Amazon Prime? Sashikanth has his own reasons for what he is planning to do and those reasons form the crux of our article. 

If an actor has 3 films or more releasing in the same year, will the audience get tired of them? There is an example from Dhanush's set of releases in 2015 where audience didn't show much interest in the 3rd release Thangamagan. The film was directed by Velraj who earlier directed Dhanush's highest grosser VIP but the opening was one of the lowest ever for Dhanush and with the record pre-release business in Tamil Nadu, Thangamagan also became Dhanush's biggest loss maker for distributors. 

Karthi and Sivakarthikeyan's track record in 2019 is also a good case study for this.
 
Dev and Mr.Local bombed in theaters but If you look at the content its understandable. Both of them gave a strong comeback through Namma Veettu Pillai and Kaithi but their immediate next releases Hero and Thambi got shockingly low openings. The closing gross was less than half of Karthi and Sivakarthikeyan's previous releases. 

Unlike Dev and Mr.Local there is a lot to like in Hero and Thambi, despite some shortcomings they are definitely watchable flicks. If audience are not interested in visiting theaters despite decent Word-Of-Mouth, it indicates only one thing "Fatigue". Watching a 3rd film starring the same actor in the same year won't be in many people's weekend plans unless the content is exceptionally good. 

 

Dhanush has 3 films slated for release in 2021 starting from Karnan in April followed by Karthick Naren's untitled project and a Hindi film, the latter has very less pressure in Tamil Nadu as far as box office is concerned but the financial stakes in Jagame Thandhiram is much higher than Karnan and Karthick Naren film. If Sashikanth gets caught in a predicament where his production becomes the 3rd release of Dhanush then he stands to lose a lot of money even If the content is labelled watchable. 

Kollywood or any Indian film industry for that matter is staring at a situation where there will be at least one big or medium budget film releasing every weekend starting from Doctor which is allegedly targeting March end release followed by films like Sulthan, Karnan and more. Direct OTT release means guaranteed return of investment for producers, an option they can consider to prevent rubbing shoulders with films that will eat into their 2nd/3rd weekend revenues.

The makers of Jagame Thandhiram have been maintaining silence over OTT release plan because they stand to lose reimbursement from the British government. Telugu films like Nenokkadine and Nannaku Prematho benefited from shooting in London and Belfast. For foreign films shot in UK, the government will refund 50% of the expenses incurred there but only If the films are released in theaters. Financials are currently being reworked to facilitate Jagama Thandhiram's Netflix premiere post which the deal will be signed paving way for official announcement.