Write Off : Pandemic Induced Cost Failure Wrecks Havoc in Kollywood

 

Hollywood Releases of September 3rd managed to put respectable weekend gross figures in Tamil Nadu with Shang Chi grossing 2.65 crores, while Fast And Furious 9 grossed 2 crores approx. The box office performance of these films was promising in urban and suburban centers but theaters outside the 3C's (Chennai, Chengalpet, Coimbatore) saw below par turn outs.  

If trends of the last time theaters reopened after a devastating Covid wave were indicative of anything, it's the fact that immediate footfalls will be far lower than pre-pandemic times for films that lack face value.  

Read : Every Penny Counts : How moviegoers have become increasingly selective in visiting theaters 

Films like Paris Jeyaraj & Kalathil Sandhipom were off to dismissal starts despite starring actors who used to command minimal openings till few years back. The positive word-of-mouth garnered through the opening weekend weren't effective enough to salvage the films in the long run.  

The most worrying part of the story is a film titled Laabam (Profit in English) released today with a deficit of 12 crores. From a economical perspective, it would have been better for Vijay Sethupathi If Tughlaq Durbar released in theaters and Laabam settled for OTT but out of respect for Director Late SP Jhananathan, Vijay Sethupathi has literally sacrificed crores of his hard earned money to facilitate the theatrical release of Laabam. 

Laabam TN Rights are valued @ 7+ crores with Chennai & Salem directly released by the makers. In normal circumstances, a big budget film like Laabam would have easily done close to double of its present pre-release business. Theatricals rights outside Tamil Nadu & Non-Theatrical Rights like Hindi dubbing, Satellite & Digital rights are said to have pocketed 11 to 12 crores for Vijay Sethupathi Productions. The film's poor openings and negative response from viewers indicate that the makers are sure to sustain a loss of at least 40%. 

If there is no reasonable turn out for Thalaivii (September 10th) & Kodiyil Oruvan (September 17th) then the situation of film producers till the market becomes stable will be akin to farmers who dump their harvests, such is the state of affairs in Kollywood. 

The situation isn't any better for big budget films, Sivakarthikeyan's Doctor, Ajith's Valimai & Rajinikanth's Annaththe took off as projects that were guaranteed to earn table profits for their producers. But the delay caused by the pandemic and escalating interest rates have left no option for the makers other than releasing the films with deficits.  

Sivakarthikeyan's Doctor received good offers from OTT platforms in the range of 40 to 45 crores. The prices they were offered would have been good enough to get the project to breakeven If Doctor released around the same time as Soorarai Pottru. Since KJR Studios was confident about the film's success, they decided to stick to theatrical release and locked March 26th as the new release date but the state elections and the subsequent 2nd Covid wave left them financially wrecked. In addition to this, part of the funds borrowed for Doctor were diverted to cover production expenses of Ayalaan. With around 70-75 crores investment hanging in the balance, Doctor is set to risk it all and release on October 13th, anything less than a fantastic run at the box office will result in loss for the makers. 

Valimai is staring at a much bigger risk because the markers had invested close to 100 crores in the film's production even before the pandemic started. The film was planned to be shot in many exotic foreign locales but the pandemic forced Director H. Vinoth to make numerous adjustments in the script to make the content more local, despite sincere attempts Valimai's budget kept escalating because of repeated shoot postponements, re-shoots. When all is set and done, Valimai's final landing costs could be as high as 175 crores. To make up for the pandemic induced losses, Ajith has agreed to do a quickie in Vinoth's direction again for Boney Kapoor  

Unlike Doctor & Valimai, interest rates aren't a matter of concern for Rajinikanth's Annaththe because the film is backed by Sun Pictures. Regardless of that, budget escalation was inevitable for Annaththe courtesy of the constant shoot disruptions, rescheduling and location shifts. The Superstar in now in two minds about an action adventure project he intended to do with one film old director Desingu Periasamy.  

Stay Tuned for a follow up article coming up tomorrow @ 8:15 pm.