This Pongal, game shifts to number of shows

The Pongal holidays is one time when Kollywood tries to cash in as the three-day holiday and festive mood of the audiences, which has a great effect on the box office. But this year, with four films ��� Rajini Murugan, Kathakali, Thaarai Thappattai and Gethu ��� all announcing their release on January 14, theatre owners and distributors are concerned with the strategy of the producers of these films.The reason ��� the limited number of screens in the state might result in these films hurting each others��� prospects at the BO.
���It is not really a good strategy because all four movies are awaited by fans. Last year, Pongal was a 5-day holiday, which benefitted the three films (I, Aambala and Darling) that released then. But this year, Pongal falls on January 15, which is a Friday, it is like a normal 3-day weekend. Even by releasing on January 14, the films get no great advantage in releasing during this festive weekend as they have to compete against three other films,��� feels producer G Dhananjayan, who explains, ���In this situation, an ardent film buff might, at the most, catch three films over the weekend. So, one of these four films might lose out. I would say two films releasing on Pongal would be the best strategy. Three releases are OK, but four is certainly a crowd.���
Currently there are around 950 active screens in Tamil Nadu. The producers of these releases have been talking about the number of screens their film is releasing in. But look closer and you will realise that this year, the game has shifted from number of screens to number of shows. ���Multiplexes in the cities will have no major problem in finding screens for these films but outside the cities, it is the single screens, which are a dominant factor when one looks at BO revenue. They will have to screen more than one film, by splitting shows so that they do not antagonise the backers of these films, who are all big shots in the industry,��� opines Dhananjayan.
Explaining how this is going to affect these films, he says, ���If a film gets 300 screens and four shows a day, it gets 1,200 shows. Add special shows (since this is a festival weekend, the government is likely to allow one extra show to the regular four shows) and the number rises to 1,500. However, with four films fighting for screen space, each might get, at the maximum, 600-800 shows. So, the revenue that they collect over the festival weekend will be almost half of what they would have collected over a normal weekend with less competition.���
The top priority, according theatre owners we spoke to, is being given to Rajini Murugan, which stars Sivakarthikeyan, who has become a favourite for kids and as a result, brings in family audiences. It is no surprise that the film is also being promoted as a family entertainer. Next in line is Kathakali, an action film that has a popular actor (Vishal) and family-friendly director (Pandiraj) teaming up for the first time. And Thaarai Thappattai is expected to get an opening because it is Ilaiyaraaja���s 1,000th film and will also bring in fans of director Bala. Gethu is the dark horse, they say, but it is also keenly awaited given that it marks the first time Udhayanidhi Stalin, who has so far been acting in comedies, is trying an action thriller. ���In addition to these Tamil films, three Telugu films, including NTR Jr���s Nannaku Prematho, will also be releasing this weekend. For a multiplex like us, this will not be a problem, but single screens will find it difficult to slot shows,��� says Meenakshisundaram, the manager of a multiplex on ECR.
The success of these films cannot be determined based on the 3-day collections, as is usually done, but only on their collections after two weeks, he adds.
Meanwhile, Valliappan, the owner of a two-screen theatre in Vadapalani, says that since all the four films wanted to screen in their theatre, to be fair to each of them, his theatre will be showing two shows of each film, with one show on the big screen and one on the small screen. ���For the special shows, we will be giving one show each to all four movies over the four days and later, based on the audience response, we will allot screens to these films,��� he says.
A distributor who did not wish to be named felt that such a situation was unavoidable. He says, ���Rajini Murugan and Thaarai Thappattai have been waiting to release for quite some time. And the makers of Kathakali and Gethu had announced that they will be releasing their films on Pongal very early and had started the process of booking screens even before the other two films had finalised on their release date. So, it wouldn���t be fair to expect them to re-schedule their film���s release just because another couple of films had chosen to release along with their film. We too, are keenly watching the outcome to see if the box office can accommodate four releases on the same day.���