Diwali season is one of the biggest crowd pullers for theaters in Tamil Nadu but 2022 seems to be going a bit dull so far. Besides no real biggies releasing this holiday season, the advance bookings for Tamil films - Sardar (Karthi) and Prince (Sivakarthikeyan) are unusually low. 

The average base rate of a movie ticket in Tamil Nadu is Rs. 120 but this price has been increased to Rs. 190+ for the festive season. This means that in the first four days of their release i.e. from October 21, 2022 [Friday] to October 24, 2022 [Monday], Sardar and Prince tickets will be sold for an additional charge. 

This is completely unacceptable! @KarurCinemas All theatres screening Prince and Sardar charging ₹220 from friday to next week Wednesday. Daylight robbery, epdi padatha paaka varumnu thonum? Karur is worst interms of movie experience, tbh.

— Manoj Prabagar (@ManojPrabagar) October 19, 2022

Diwali releases booking status#Prince#Sardar

98% Green
1% Orange
1% Red

Only +VE word of mouth will create magic for weekend bookings

Ithula flat 200 rs for a week vera vachi aniyayam panranga

130/150 will be good (intha rate iruntha, ticket bookings will be more now) pic.twitter.com/obrfm0LiHY

— arunprasad (@Cinephile05) October 20, 2022

No tier 1 hero movie on Diwali so doesn’t have the same feel

— . (@_TenHagSzn__) October 20, 2022

Udt la 150 170
Festival days la 30 athigama podranga
Weekdays aana aprm tan 120 ku maathuranga

— Dr.Sanakyan ⚕️ (@NGS_tweets) October 20, 2022

The Diwali box-office of the Tamil film industry is currently reliant on good word-of-mouth for Sardar and Prince,  both of which are releasing on October 21, 2022.  Interestingly, Ponnniyin Selvan 1 which is still going strong entering its 4th week of theatrical run, seems to be attracting the Diwali audience for its ticket price of Rs. 120.