All eyes on Mersal and Velaikkaran in 2017's final quarter :-

THE TN TOP 5 :-

1. BAAHUBALI 2 : THE CONCLUSION :- 

Gross : 147.4 crores 

Share : 80.2 crores (Tamil - 76 crores, Telugu - 4 crores approx.)

Baahubali 2's achievement is massive by any yardstick. Since Baasha, every Tamil Industry Hit managed to beat the previous record holder only in gross which hinted the no. of people visiting theaters is decreasing . Endhiran was hyped as Shankar's dream project but it ended up selling less than 1 crore tickets in Tamil Nadu though it still managed to gross 104 crores . 

Baahubali : The Beginning's success made distributors feel the sequel has potential to beat Endhiran's 7 years old lifetime gross record. When it finally hit the screens on April 28th, 2017, Baahubali 2 surpassed expectations by beating Endhiran by 40+ crores margin in gross and 16+ crores margin in share .

If Baahubali 2 was tax free like Endhiran, then share would have been more than 90 crores . Nevertheless it will be remembered as the first Industry hit since Aboorva Sagodarargal to have had better footfalls than the previous record holder. It has sold approx.1.2 crore tickets in TN, which is ahead of Endhiran & Sivaji The Boss and on par with Chandramukhi & Ghilli.

2. VIVEGAM  :- 

Gross : 68.25 crores

Share : 37 crores  

What happened to Ajith-Saran's 4th film was what exactly happened to Vivegam. The style over substance formula had reached its saturation point and Vivegam ended up becoming Ajith's biggest failure since Asal . But despite the box office disappointment, Siva continues to be in good terms with Ajith and the star is interested in doing 2 more films with him (1 quickie and 1 big budget film).

Meanwhile Ajith has been hearing scripts from a couple of other directors as well including few newcomers and it remains to be seen whether Ajith will choose a different director or go ahead with a quickie mass entertainer under Siva's direction.

3. BAIRAVAA :- 

Gross : 58.2 crores 

Share : 40 crores 

Though Vijay's Bairavaa was a flop elsewhere, it performed better in TN, ultimately recovering 40 crores share against Rights valued @ 50 crores. Chengalpet, Tirunelveli Kanyakumari & North South Arcot were the least affected territories while Coimbatore (Kovai a.k.a. CBE) faced the most loss. Considering that the film had a flop director and negative talk from first show itself, its performance comes as a surprise. Currently its the 4th highest grosser for Vijay in both TN & Worldwide. 

4. SI 3 a.k.a C3 a.k.a. S3 a.k.a. SINGAM 3 or WHATEVER :- 

Gross : 43.2 crores 

Share : 28 crores 

The film was not even supposed to be a 2017 release in the first place. 
Read : The Butterfly Effect : Repeated Postponements of Singam 3 

Singam 3 commercially is regarded as a massive disappointment, critic reviews were the least to be concerned about since Singam 2 also opened to mixed reviews, but the film made a lot of money. Feb/March is the worst period to release big budget films since audience will be busy with other commitments. Singam 3 proved it yet again, the opening was below expectations though the film remained steady throughout the 4 days weekend, the film dropped in weekdays. In the later days, weekend occupancy had considerable difference with weekdays. At the end of the run, the final gross was way behind Singam 2, 7am Arivu & Singam while barely equaling Maattrraan's share. 100 crores is no longer a big deal, the previous month's disappointment Bairavaa also grossed 100 crores. For the kind of pre release biz these two command, 100 crores is no longer a benchmark. They can claim their film is a blockbuster when it does 200 crores or more.

5. VIKRAM VEDHA :-

Gross : 37.1 crores 

Share : 16.55 crores  

July continues to prove again and again why its called the long run month and also the best time to release content driven films .  


2012 - Naan Ee

2013 - Singam 2

2014 - Velaiyilla Pattathari

2015 - Baahubali : The Beginning

2016 : Kabali

2017 : Vikram Vedha


All films in the list baring Kabali were highly profitable for every stakeholder. Kabali also would have not had a long run If it was released in a different month considering the WOM it had, though it still faced losses, it was the July release that ensured the magnitude of losses won't be as big as Lingaa .  

Vikram Vedha opened low in B & C centers because of post GST crisis & clash with Hip Hop Tamizha's Meesaya Murukku but Chennai & Chengalpet openings were huge and in the long run Vikram Vedha beat closing gross of films like Singam 3, Irumugan & REMO.

That feat not only makes jaws drop but also raises few questions regarding Vijay Sethupathi's star power outside the 3C's (Chennai, Chengalpet & Coimbatore). The film performed well everywhere in Tamil Nadu but compared to Chennai & Chengalpet, the revenue coming from Rest of TN looks very ordinary.

That is to be attributed to the fact that audience in the 3'Cs are more exposed to International cinema, hence an experimental folktale like Vikram Vedha can also find takers . Nevertheless, the film is a blockbuster and has grossed more than 60 crores worldwide. Vikram Vedha has performed exceptionally well in USA, Kerala & Karnataka . In the latter 2 areas, it's the highest grossing Tier 2 actor film, those records were previously held by Paiyaa & Thani Oruvan respectively .


GENUINE HITS :-  

1) Yaman : 10.16 crores 

2) Maanagaram : 7.15 crores 

3) Kavan : 25.27 crores 

4) Baahubali 2 : 147.4 crores  

5) Sangili Bungili Kadhava Thorae : 17.05 crores 

6) Maragadha Naanayam : 8.56 crores 

7) Meesaya Murukku : 16.7 crores 

8) Vikram Vedha : 37.1 crores 

9) Taramani : 7.42 crores 

10) Thupparivaalan : 20.3 crores 

11) Hara Hara Maha Devaki : 16.25 crores approx.

Hip Hop Tamizha's debut directional Meesaya Murukku is the most profitable venture of the year . It was sold for 4 crores MG and collected 8 crores share. 


No. of Releases so far : 139 
Hits : 7.9% 

Lowest hit ratio for Kollywood in recent years .  

OTHER LANGUAGE FILMS :- 


HINDI :-

1) Raaes : 2.75 crores 

2) Sachin : A Billion Dreams : 2.5 crores 

3) Jab Harry Met Sejal : 2.32 crores  

4) Kaabil (Tamil+Hindi) : 2 crores  

5) Badrinath K Dulhania : 1.72 crores 

TELUGU :- 

1) Baahubali 2 (Only Telugu) : 12 crores approx. 
Share : 4 crores approx. 

2) SPYDER (Only Telugu) : 3 crores 
Share : 1 crore 

3) Jai Lava Kusa : 2.64 crores 
Share : 1 crore

4) Katamarayudu : 1.74 crores 
Share : 65 Lakhs 

5) Khaidi No.150 : 1.52 crores 
Share : 58 Lakhs 

MALAYALAM :-

1) Ramaleela : 66 Lakhs 

2) Njandukalude Nattil Oridavela : 64 Lakhs 

3) Muthirivallikal Thallikumbol : 61 Lakhs 

4) Ezra : 43 Lakhs  

5) Sakhavu : 42.8 Lakhs 

ALL EYES ON MERSAL AND VELAIKKARAN :- 

Mersal's success is important for so many reasons, the most important of them all is biggies earlier this year have left distributors with holes on their pockets. Mersal is being released by Thenandal Studios Limited on their own in TN through mediators, they have got 70 crores advance . Thenandal is expecting Mersal to at least come close to Baahubali 2's lifetime gross. Since the film is made on a budget of 135 crores, they have to earn some good amount of money to go ahead with the production of their ambitious historical war film Sangamithra.

Though distributors are safe since they have signed Mersal on advance basis, some of them like in Tirunelveli Kanyakumari area have taken advantage of Vijay's stardom and managed to get record MGs, in some theaters it's more than the lifetime revenue of all films baring Baahubali 2. 

With enough details said about Mersal, lets move to the last biggie of the year : Vellaikaran  

The above sentence would have looked like a joke had I said it few years back but today Sivakarthikeyan is the most popular actor in Tamil Nadu after Thalaivaa & Thalathalapathy. He has overtook Suriya in his recent films. 

For Comparison, here are the closing shares of their last 3 films in TN :-  

Masss - 15 crores 
Kaaki Sattai - 18.5 crores 

24 - 22 crores 
Rajini Murugan - 25 crores 

Singam 3 - 28 crores 
REMO - 31 crores 

Velaikkaran is being sold area-wise in TN for around 35 crores. Those who got know about the premise feel the film might become Sivakarthikeyan's Annamalai (The friends turned foes part). There is also a buzz that Siva is playing dual roles for the first time . 
In case the film falls short of the expected 70 crores gross, same distributors will get fancy deals in SK12 . 

The Dark Horses :-


                         
Karthi's Theeran Adhigaram Ondru is an upcoming realistic police thriller based on real life events . Dreamwarrior Pictures have planned the film as the first part of a trilogy . If the film works, we'll get to see Theeran Thirumaran return for two more missions . The buzz is bit lower than trade expectations and Theeran may not get openings in the league of Kaashmora & Kaatru Veliyidai, however with positive WOM, the film can have a long run like Vikram Vedha had couple of months back.  


   

Imaikkaa Nodigal starring Atharvaa Murali & Nayanthara is an upcoming psychological crime thriller directed by AR Murugadoss's associate Ajay Gnanamuthu. More than 2 years ago, the young director debuted with the successful horror thriller Demonte Colony. His 2nd film is much bigger in both scale and ambition. Internationally acclaimed Bollywood Director Anurag Kashyap plays the villain and Music is composed by Hip Hop Tamizha.