The first half of 2023 has been a dismal period for Malayalam cinema, as only two out of 56 releases have made profits from theatres. The rest of the films either failed to recover their costs or depended on other sources of revenue such as digital, satellite and overseas rights. The only exception was 2018 Movie, a disaster film based on the Kerala floods, which became a huge hit and the most profitable Malayalam film ever.
The main reason for the poor performance of Malayalam films was the lack of quality content and effective promotions. Most of the films that released in theatres were poorly made and did not have anything to attract the audiences. The OTT platforms also forced a theatrical release for their acquisitions, which resulted in cluttering the screens with mediocre films.
The only films that worked in the first half of 2023 were those that had “something in story telling or narration that hooked the audiences”. Romancham, a comedy horror film, was an example of a hit that had a novel and engaging plot. Three other films – Pranaya Vilasam, Neymar and Madhura Manohara Moham – were made on a low budget and managed to recover most of their costs from theatres.
None of the big star films made an impact at the box office, and those that broke even or were profitable did so from a combination sale of digital+satellite +overseas + theatricals. The OTT platforms became more choosy and careful in buying Malayalam films, and cut their rates by 30% compared to the previous year. They also imposed a longer gap between theatrical and OTT release, ranging from 4 to 5 weeks.
The theatre business was at its lowest point and many single screens shut down temporarily due to lack of good content and heavy rains. Theatre business today relied more on other language films than Malayalam. Pathaan, a Hindi film, earned more from Kerala theatres than all but two Malayalam films (2018 Movie & Romancham). Leo, another Hindi film, was sold for ₹16 Cr for Kerala rights, and Jawaan, also a Hindi film, may be bought for ₹6.5 Cr.
All hopes were now on Onam releases King Of Kotha and RDX, which were expected to boost the Malayalam film business. There was also a chance of a surprise hit from a small film with good content.
Some additional points to the report were that Malayalam cinema needed to adapt to the changing preferences and tastes of the audiences, and that OTT platforms needed to collaborate with filmmakers rather than compete with them. Malayalam cinema also needed to explore new genres and themes, and that OTT platforms needed to promote regional cinema more effectively.
Another point was that even though content was coming, people were not pushed to go to theatres, as most people felt that some films were not worth for theatre and waited for digital release. This was a wrong calculation that only big budget films were theatre worthy, which was very wrong and bad for the industry.
All the films except some exceptions like Minnal Murali from last year, the films which got international or national recognition were core regional films and these films are not getting enough run would hit the industry bad.