Friday Matinee - Vishu winner- At the final lap

The film exhibitors of Kerala have announced an indefinite strike from May 2^nd against various decisions of Kerala Govt relating to the cinema theaters. It means virtual shut down of the cinema theaters and Mollywood will be thrown in to one more crisis. Anticipating strikes several movies releases were shifted to the month of May. It still unclear how many days the strike will go on since the concerned Minister will be in election mood. The vacation season is the biggest money spinner of the Mollywood and they expected it to get it big with the plenty of movies arraigned but the strike will be bringing disappointment to the industry. With the Ramzan fasting to begin in a month, the film makers wanted their movies to be released at the earliest. A token strike in the April had created huge loss for the movies like King Liar which was in the first week run. Theater owners should invent new style of strike than closure. Can they ?

Surprisingly , two Mollywood films released  in Kerala , Edavappathiand Shikhamani  with three days possible run since Monday onward the strike will come in to effect. Bold decision or suicidal one?

Kerala Top 5 movies as on 29/04/2016

1. Jacobinte Swargarajyam

Luck is biggest factor in business and Jacob is the luckiest of all the films in the recent time due to shift of various films release to some other dates. Post Vishu from 22^ndonwards there were rainbow of releases Megastar to Supreme Star film but all of them have been rescheduled to the first week of May. Summer vacation best season for Mollywood  and here what we see domination of Jacob due to lack of competition. Since it is being family oriented film and competition from similar sort of would have been diminished its occupancy .But the luck helps it to surge ahead solidly at box office. With around 7,000 shows within 3 weeks this Nivin Pauly- Vineeth film grosses approx 13.90 Cr in 20 days in Kerala which is Super Hit in trade sense.

2. Leela

 Experimental movies have no box office shine in Mollywood . But Ranjith- Unni R experiment becoming an exception to it!  The film is at break even stage due to concrete planning in its budget and some historic marketing strategies. The online shows had fantastic response and at the same time proved fatal due to pirated download version in various website. But the team somehow managed it before it turns to worst. The revenue, the online shows were big plus because small film likes this would have never found an international buyers. In Box office it maintained average to below average at various centers but fortunately moved to second week with minimal loss of shows. Collected around 2.15 Cr in a week from Kerala and it is good for a film which has small budget around 1.85 Cr. With various rights it will give a smile for producer Ranjith.

3. King Liar

Lack of major release helped Jacob in big way; the King also had bit of share of it. Comedy plus Dileep helped it cross 9,000 shows with a gross of 16 Cr in four weeks. Though multiplexes have been weak the single screens despite of hold over retained the screens expecting weekend businesses. The Super Hit and still leads in the Vishu race with total number of shows and gross.

4. Jungle book

8 crore in three weeks in Kerala for Hollywood movie is an unbelievable achievement. The film attractively packaged so that it attract all ages audience and the collection is an indicator how the film pierced in to Malayalee psyche. The kid in every one’ self enjoys it along with the kid at home. The real blockbuster.

5. Theri

From a sky high first week the film went down to the earth in second week. The collection deteriorate day by day though it holds on all the centers but the return in terms of revenue is minimal. It has a gross of around 13.75 Cr in two weeks and the scheduled strike has turned blessing in disguise as it can take the juice out of this weekend.