Kollywood potboilers, those sure-fire crackers for Malayali distributors all these years, seem to have lost their box-office mojo.
Ilaya Dalapathi Vijay’s far-from-awe-inspiring outing with Kathi has only underlined the fact. That the Molotov cocktail of Vijay and hit-maker Murugadoss failed to create fireworks at the box-office is likely to stop Malayalam distributors and exhibitors from jumping at other language movies.
Tinsel Town has learnt that the box office collections for Kathi dropped to half on the second day, leaving the distributors and exhibitors panicky. Released in nearly 120 screens across the State, the movie had bagged a whopping initial of Rs. 1 crore, only to drop by half and even below by the second and third day.
By an initial estimate drawn up by exhibitors, distributors may be looking at a loss of at least Rs. 1 crore since the distribution right of the film in Kerala went for Rs. 4.5 crore.
Surya’s much-hyped Anjaan directed by yet another hit-maker Lingusamy, too, suffered a similar fate. The distribution rights of the film in Kerala were also sold for around Rs. 4.5 crore. Vijay’s previous flick Thuppaki, too, had burned a hole in the purse of distributors and exhibitors.
Distributors blame the production houses of Tamil movies for inflating the Kerala rights for Kollywood movies over the last few years. “At this rate, we are not even able to break. If earlier the rights of a Vijay movie were sold for anything between Rs. 2 crore and Rs. 2.5 crore, it’s now almost double at Rs. 4.5 crore,” a distributor said.
It needs to be seen whether the much-hyped Shankar’s movie ‘I’ , the rights of which in Kerala were reportedly sold at Rs. 5.6 crore, will buck the trend.
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