This summer has left the Telugu audience with no movie fun vacations. Almost all schools and colleges have summer vacations in the months of April and May. As the children get a long vacation, parents also make various plans to enjoy the holidays. Cinema is the main part of the enjoyments of vacations. But this time there is less chance of going to the theaters and watching the movie together with all the family members. General elections, IPL matches, OTT Web Series are the main reasons for this.
Movie Theaters are Losing Business:
In the Tollywood, the state of cinema summer 2024 has been particularly bleak. There was no new content with good production values for release. Producers were hesitant to release whatever films they had due to the ongoing IPL and the Lok Sabha elections. As a result, around 250 out of 450 single-screen theatres have facing financial troubles in Greater Hyderabad and remaining cities, town of Telugu States.
OTT is the Challenge to Cinema in Digital Age:
The movies and web series being released on the OTT platform are very impressive to the viewers. Therefore, even if the movies released in theaters have a good story and narrative, they are not popular and getting good returns. Due to this, the film producers are paying special attention to the production of the film. Films are being made to impress the viewers of present generation.
Sankrati & Summer.. Two Seasons for Tollywood:
Summer is the longest season in the Tollywood film industry every year. Dozens of big films are released during the Sankranti season but they last for only 7-10 days. Summer goes on for two months. With schools, colleges and universities giving holidays to the youth, they flock to the theatres in batches to have fun. The theatres get filled and even the families come to theatres a lot during this season. That is why a lot of movies arrive during these two months. The euphoria starts at the end of March and continues till the end of May. But nothing of that sort happened this season. In 2023, 'Dasara' and 'Virupaksha' are the only movies to arrive in summer 2023. This season, it was only 'Tillu Square' which got good collections.
Waiting for Prabhas' Kalki 2898 AD:
Many film lovers expected a lot of big releases to arrive in theatres during the summer season. But summer 2024 turned out to be a major disappointment. 'Devara' which was supposed to release in the first week of April got postponed to October. Everyone pinned a lot of hopes on 'Kalki' but it is arriving on 27th June. The only hope is 'Gangs of Godavari' which will hit the screens on 31st May. With no noted releases, the single-screen theatres are going to be shut down for 10 days in Telangana. This explains a lot about the situation. Along with 'GOG', movies like 'Harom Hara' and 'Gam Gam Ganesha' are releasing on 31st May. If they don't impress the viewers, the theatres will be empty till Prabhas arrives with 'Kalki 2898 AD' in June, 2024.
