Mid-Week Box Office Report Oct 24

The long holiday week has been a boon for Tamil movies currently running in theatres, with not much competition around. The only spoilsport has been heavy rains lashing out last few days at many places in Tamil Nadu.

Pizza - Karthik Subbaraj's Pizza has been getting unanimous praise from viewers. The neutral fans have started pouring in due to excellent word of mouth. The multiplexes are only playing 3 to 4 shows a day despite running packed houseful shows. Mayajaal was able to quickly increase the number of show count from 3 to 21 a day with most shows registering full attendance. The screen and show counts are expected to increase in single screens and other distribution areas starting upcoming Friday. This movie is already classified a Hit due to low production costs. With the current momentum, it could very well be on its way to bigger box office status.

Maattrraan - Due to aggressive promotions showing the making video of conjoined twins and Suriya interviews on all major TV networks, Maattrraan has been able to sustain well during its second week. The shows registered close to 65% to 80% occupancy at most of the multiplexes and single screens during the second week. Last weekend showed sharp spike at ticket-counter owing to strong promotions on TV and FM Radios.

Many distributors are breathing a sigh of relief because of good collections from 2nd weekend and Pooja holidays, after taken aback by lower than expected opening. Some critics believe that Suriya's over exposure on TV advertisements and game shows as reasons for less than expected bookings compared to that of Ajith or Vijay. But, the neutral and family audience have not let Suriya down again as second weekend collections held steady. Regarding the box office status, let's take one example center which is indicative of what other centers are currently going through. The Minimum Guarantee (MG) for Pondicherry was Rs. 50 Lakhs. As of last Sunday, theatres in Pondicherry is reported to have already collected Rs.48 Lakhs and expecting to break-even by end of this week after forking out the theatre share.

Perarasu's Thiruthani sank without trace right from the first show. English Vinglish(Tamil), Thaandavam and Sundarapandian are still playing in handful of screens across the major cities all over the state. Another critic favourite small movie, Aarohanam, will be releasing this Friday.