Summer scorches cinema collections
Summer is the best season to release films because the hot holidays bring in huge droves who want to cool off and get entertained. In Kerala, summer normally starts by the end of March and major releases begin traditionally from Easter Sunday to the last week of May. The summer of 2007 was a peak business season for Malayalam films and witnessed the release of many Malayalam films. Among the films released in April-May 2007, Vinodhayatra, Chotta Mumbai and Big B became big hits. This is all about big movies!
But what about the small movies? Almost all small films released in summer have been rejected by the Kerala audiences in the past. Last year's movies like Panthaya kozhi, Athishayan, Paranju theeratha visheshangal, Komban, Goal, Soorya kireedam, Kakkhi and Time had performed very porly in the box office. All these films had fetched more money from TV rights (in the range of Rs 20 to 45 lakhs) than theatrical collections for the producers.
No difference in this summer too! The season seems to be very average at the Kerala box-office. Kerala Police, Malabar Wedding, Gopalapuram, Salabham, Parthan Kanda Paralokam, Mulla, De Ingottu Nokkiye, Swarnam, Pachamarathanal, Swarnam, Positive and Shakespeare M.A. Malayalam, that released this summer, are reported to have failed miserably at the box office. Only Mammootty's Annan Thambi and Mohanlal's Innathe Chintavishayam have survived this summer. Does the list of flop movies this summer prove that Kerala audiences is not willing to experiment or accept any star other than Mohanlal and Mammootty?
However, another dozen small films are waiting for release during this season, but some reports say that the theatres in Kerala are refusing to screen them! And another miserable part of small movies to be released is that they require another Rs. 25 to Rs. 30 lakhs for publicity and prints. Most of them may not be able to recover this trivial amount also. Summer is too hot to survive without big stars!
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