In the recent past, most of the Tamil releases were either duds or raked in average business at the box office, but Hollywood movies, and the Tamil-dubbed versions like The Jungle Book, The Conjuring 2, Captain America: Civil War and Independence Day: Resurgence that hit the screens last Friday are doing extremely well throughout the state.
The same cannot be said for Tamil films that came out last Friday like Amma Kanakku featuring Amala Paul in the lead; Metro, which created a pre-release buzz with censor problems; and Raja Mandhiri directed by Usha Krishnan. Though Amma Kanakku and Metro were promoted well and garnered decent reviews, it was Independence Day’s release on the same day that got a very big opening. Both the English and Tamil versions which were released in 150 screens have recorded a tremendous opening all over the state! Almost all big screens had big turnouts for the same.
“The special effects are one of the best seen so far!” says Abhinav, who regularly watches first-day-first-show of H’wood movies. People who watched the prequel — Independence Day — which released in Woodlands Theatre way back in 1996, also thronged theaters for the whole new experience of its sequel. When asked, Rajesh, who works as a senior system analyst opines, “The theme of an alien invasion has been presented on a new level and the experience of watching it unfold on the screen, with the added attraction of 3D is extraordinary.”
It all started with The Jungle Book when it released in April. It wasn’t long before it joined the ‘100 crores club’ in the Indian market (it did well in Tamil Nadu too). No other Tamil movie, with the exception of Ilayathalapathy Vijay-starrer Theri, came close to it.
With the box office success of The Conjuring in 2013, expectations for the sequel were also quite high.
It was released along with Oru Naal Koothu on the 10th of June and although critics raved about ONK, The Conjuring 2 set the cash registers ringing. “This movie was a turning point for K’town and post its release the trend of horror movies caught up with Tamil filmmakers, reveals writer and trade analyst Sura.
Despite a competition from GV Prakash’s Enakku Innoru Paer Irukku, Sundar C’s Muthina Kathirika and the controversial Udta Punjab, the English film Finding Dory heaped the box-office collections.
The trend was swaying towards Tamil dubbed Tollywood movies till recently, which enjoyed big releases besides collecting good revenue. Veteran Rajaraja known for his skills in writing dialogues for Tamil-dubbed Telugu movies says, “I have been writing for the past 30 years for dubbed Tamil movies. Few months ago, we dubbed Charan’s Evadu. Charan has huge fan base in Tamil Nadu and hence could get many screens for its release,”
“Telugu films are usually mass entertainers with big stars, rich production values and their dubbed versions are aimed at B and C centre audiences who feel their money is worth spending. Hence they are doing well in TN,” states producer and actor Karthik.
