RRR film was supposed to bring back the audiences to theatres big time and give the much necessary boost to ailing box office in Telugu states. Now, the movie got postponed to indefinite time.
Theatres were hit badly during Covid pandemic and Omnicron, Florina variants are scaring everyone hinting at a more dangerous third wave.
For two years, the number of releases have been lower than the average and business has been hit hard. They needed a huge movie like RRR to revive the situation.
Akhanda, Pushpa The Rise helped theatres in December to rise money and recover some lost ground. Even though many other films have released, the potential of first week and weekend business has fallen so low that collections are no way close to even 5% of the year 2019, times before pandemic.
Andhra Pradesh government's decision to bring down ticket rates for all films has hit the theatres hard rather than helping them. Telangana government went into another extreme by rising the rates by almost 125%.
This move also would not help small budget films to recover their costs as families and audiences won't be happy, willing to pay Rs. 1000 - 1500 for watching a film at theatres, if they don't feel the worth. Arjuna Phalguna film first weekend collections are an example for that.
Lakshya kind of film starring Naga Shourya failed to register recent potential opening numbers that the actor is capable of putting up. Skylab kind of a film flopped even after getting favourable reviews.
Akhanda and Pushpa business got affected due to raising third wave fears and AP government decision to change the ticket prices. Now, with RRR deflecting the release date, theatres might think about closing the theatres for another three to four months that too during Sankranti festival period.
Films like Bangarraju, Rowdy Boys have to be very good for audiences to turn up in huge numbers during this SANKRANTI season for at least theatres to get their feeding costs.
If they fail, the theatres will close for another three months and some Theatres will go out of business too. Many producers will think about OTT releases and each producer will have to adjust their release dates looking at the calendar for big budget films like RRR, RadheShayam.
OTT streaming sites will be in demand and movies might not get fancy rates in comparison now, as OTT streaming sites will try to milk the situation for their advantage.
This is the best time for OTT sites to go aggresive for acquisition of good films that were hoping for great theatrical turnaround. Looks like if one more wave and lockdown are inevitable, film theatre business in Telugu states and India will get affected to the maximum hitting them so hard that they will not be able to recover for years.
Let's hope that is not case and whatever films manage to release in this time will be good enough to bring audiences to theatres.
Theatres were hit badly during Covid pandemic and Omnicron, Florina variants are scaring everyone hinting at a more dangerous third wave.
For two years, the number of releases have been lower than the average and business has been hit hard. They needed a huge movie like RRR to revive the situation.
Akhanda, Pushpa The Rise helped theatres in December to rise money and recover some lost ground. Even though many other films have released, the potential of first week and weekend business has fallen so low that collections are no way close to even 5% of the year 2019, times before pandemic.
Andhra Pradesh government's decision to bring down ticket rates for all films has hit the theatres hard rather than helping them. Telangana government went into another extreme by rising the rates by almost 125%.
This move also would not help small budget films to recover their costs as families and audiences won't be happy, willing to pay Rs. 1000 - 1500 for watching a film at theatres, if they don't feel the worth. Arjuna Phalguna film first weekend collections are an example for that.
Lakshya kind of film starring Naga Shourya failed to register recent potential opening numbers that the actor is capable of putting up. Skylab kind of a film flopped even after getting favourable reviews.
Akhanda and Pushpa business got affected due to raising third wave fears and AP government decision to change the ticket prices. Now, with RRR deflecting the release date, theatres might think about closing the theatres for another three to four months that too during Sankranti festival period.
Films like Bangarraju, Rowdy Boys have to be very good for audiences to turn up in huge numbers during this SANKRANTI season for at least theatres to get their feeding costs.
If they fail, the theatres will close for another three months and some Theatres will go out of business too. Many producers will think about OTT releases and each producer will have to adjust their release dates looking at the calendar for big budget films like RRR, RadheShayam.
OTT streaming sites will be in demand and movies might not get fancy rates in comparison now, as OTT streaming sites will try to milk the situation for their advantage.
This is the best time for OTT sites to go aggresive for acquisition of good films that were hoping for great theatrical turnaround. Looks like if one more wave and lockdown are inevitable, film theatre business in Telugu states and India will get affected to the maximum hitting them so hard that they will not be able to recover for years.
Let's hope that is not case and whatever films manage to release in this time will be good enough to bring audiences to theatres.