What Went Wrong This February 2026?

After the Sankranti festival season, the Telugu film industry usually slows down. This year, February feels even more dry than usual. Compared to January’s festive rush, February 2026 has not shown even half the energy at the box office. Even movies that received positive talk are struggling to bring audiences to theatres.

For example Couple friendly starring Santosh Shobhan, got decent reviews. However, in the last 24 hours, it sold only around 19,000 tickets on BookMyShow. Surprisingly, Funky, which received mixed to flop talk, recorded almost the same numbers. This clearly shows that good word of mouth alone is not enough right now. Also, With love film that has a fantastic story is unable to get good bookings because of lack of promotions.

Generally, filmmakers consider February a dry month. One main reason is exams. Class 10 and Intermediate exams are very close, so students and families avoid movie outings. Because of this, theatre occupancy naturally drops. Still, February is not always a bad month. If we look back, many successful films released during this season.

Last year, Naga Chaitanya’s Thandel entered the 100-crore club despite releasing in February. Earlier hits like Uppena, Tholi Prema, Kshanam, Bheeshma, DJ Tillu, Bheemla Nayak, and HIT: The First Case all proved that February can deliver commercial success. These films released both before and after the pandemic.

So, 2026 is not a special case. The real problem is the lack of content that attracts all types of audiences. Youth-oriented and couple-friendly films may work for youngsters, but families are staying away.

Re-releases like Orange and Manasantha Nuvve created only short-term excitement. Love stories are no longer pulling crowds like before.

With no big Tier-1 star films at the moment, weekday theatre occupancy is extremely low. Even though weekends see some footfall, Monday to Thursday shows are almost empty.