2024 First Half Review: More Flops & Fewer Hits!

The first half of 2024 is already done. A lot of films arrived during this half but the majority of them ended up as failures which is quite sad. Tollywood kicked off 2024 in style with the Sankranti season but the success rate has fallen drastically by the end of the summer season. Films that had a lot riding on them turned into failures while a few films which came without any hopes became hits.

Prasanth Varma's 'Hanu-Man' which came out during the Sankranti period ended up being a blockbuster. It survived the competition from stars like Mahesh Babu, Venkatesh and Nagarjuna. It ultimately emerged as the winner of the Sankranti season. It was made on a budget of 40 crores but brought 350 crores in return. Despite the bad talk, 'Guntur Karam' ran through the sheer stardom of Mahesh Babu and got good collections. Akkineni Nagarajuna's 'Naa Saami Ranga' too crossed the breakeven mark in all the areas. But Venkatesh's 'Saindhav' which arrived with good expectations turned out to be a disaster. Prior and after the Sankranti season, a lot of small films arrived but none of them impressed the crowds.

In February, we had the 'Ambajipeta Marriage Band' which was successful both critically and commercially. Ravi Teja's 'Eagle' which arrived with good hype ended up as a failure. Even 'Yatra 2' disappointed everyone while 'Laal Salaam' went unnoticed. Sundeep Kishan got decent success after a long time with 'Ooru Peru Bhairavakona'. But movies like 'Siddhartha Roy', 'Masth Shades Unnai Ra' and 'Sundaram Master' failed to make an impact.

March started with a failure like 'Operation Valentine' from Varun Tej. Movies like 'Bhutaddam Bhaskar Narayana' and 'Chaari 111' along with RGV's 'Vyuham' came and went silently. Vishwak Sen's 'Gaami' which was released on Maha Shivaratri got a lot of critical acclaim and got decent collections as well. Gopichand's 'Bhima' was a disappointment but the Telugu dubbed Malayalam film 'Premalu' became a surprise hit. It collected quite well and it was released here by Rajamouli's son Karthikeya. Prithviraj Sukumaran's 'The Goat Life' did not attract the regular audience. Sree Vishnu's 'Om Bheem Bush' turned out to be a very good hit commercially. Siddu Jonnalagadda's 'Tillu Square' which arrived at the end of March was a smashing hit. It collected around 135 crores.

With election notification arriving along with IPL season being in full flow, April witnessed a dry run. No big hero tried to arrive during the summer season. Vijay Deverakonda's 'Family Star' was a disaster and Anjali's 'Geethanjali 2' was a failure as well. The next two weeks witnessed a bunch of small films but people did not walk into theatres for those movies.

Allari Naresh's 'Aa Okkati Adakku' was a failure and May began badly. 'Prasanna Vadanam' got a decent talk but the collections were not at all encouraging. Satyadev's 'Krishnamma' was an average fare. 'Baak' and 'Sabari' did not entertain people. Nara Rohit's 'Prathinidhi 2' and Getup Srinu's 'Raju Yadav' were failures as well. 'Love Me' too failed badly while 'Bhaje Vaayu Vegam' got a good talk. 'Gam Gam Ganesha' did not get the deserved response but 'Gangs Of Godavari' touched the breakeven mark in all areas and became a decent success.

In June, we have seen 'Manamey' from Sharwanand which did not impress the audience at all. 'Satyabhama' from Kajal was not up to the mark while 'Love, Mouli' was a failure as well. Sudheer Babu's 'Harom Hara' got good openings while 'Music Shop Murthy' ended up as a good attempt. Vijay's 'Maharaja' got good collections in Telugu as well. The last release in June was 'Kalki 2898 AD' and it brought back the box office to life. It already earned 555 crores worldwide and is racing towards the 1000 crores mark. Prabhas is showcasing his stamina once again.

There are more failures than hits in the initial half of 2024. But with a lot of biggies like 'Game Changer', 'Devara', '#NBK109', 'Pushpa 2', 'Thandel', 'Robinhood', 'Mr Bachchan', 'Indian 2' and others arriving in the latter half, everyone is hopeful that they impress the audience a lot and bring more money.