Tollywood witnessed revival long time back and people started thronging theatres and this promoted the makers of Rajinikanth’s Annathe and Vishal’s Enemy to release their films during Diwali. Apart from it, Maruthi’s Manchi Rojulochaie released during the festival. However the makers got a shock as box office collections dipped giving them a huge shock.
Telugu Film Chamber of Commerce president Narayana Dasu Narang speaking to scribes revealed”People thronged the theatres to watch ‘Peddanna’ in Tamil Nadu while we witnessed only a few people turning up in AP and Telangana. Probably, the Telugu people are not happy with its content. Moreover, we are witnessing very poor collection at the box office for new films even starring popular stars and we are worried that it may affect the film industry.”
The makers of major films like ‘RRR’, ‘Pushpa’, ‘Radhe Shyam’, ‘Akhanda’ are wondering whether they will get good response in theatres. A distributor said “Earlier, in the first three days, nearly 60 per cent of the revenue used to be collected. Now, we are collecting just about 30 to 40 percent as many people have stopped visiting theatres as they are getting to watch films on the OTT platforms. Moreover, within a few hours of the first show of the film in theatres, people are getting pirated copies on their mobile phones.” and added “If the same trend continues, theatres may not survive for long as it becomes unviable.”