Ever since the pandemic in 2020, the Indian film industry in general has been having it tough with attracting footfalls to theaters, and is now mostly reliant on big budget productions and OTTs for staying afloat. The regional Malayalam film industry, also known as Mollywood from Kerala is no different in this regard.

Save a few hits here and there that helped the box-office boost, Malayalam cinema has been facing an epidemic of its own, which is back to back flops and a struggle in drawing theatrical audience for direct Malayalam movies. Last year i.e. 2023 was the probably the worst for Mollywood, since close to 114 films released in the first half, but only two - 2018: Everyone is a hero and Romancham were declared hits. In 2022 i.e. the year previous, out of 176 Malayalam films that released in theaters, only 17 managed to make profits. 

This while dubbed movies from neighbouring states were doing extremely well at the Malayalam box-office. 2024 seems to have come as a much needed breather for Malayalam cinema as the industry in basking in the success of three back-to-back releases in February, 2024. 

Director Girish AD's Premalu [February 9, 2024] set the ball rolling with its rom-com of a story, and Mammootty's Bramayugam [February 15, 2024] turned heads with its unique presentation. Survival thriller Manjummel Boys [February 22, 2024] has added to the hat-trick win by becoming the most talked about even outside its target Malayalam audience. 

The next two months i.e. March and April, 2024 surely looks promising for Malayalam cinema with a star-studded line-up, aided by signature Mollywood niche. Hopefully the upcoming films (listed below) help keep the much-needed success flow going for Malayalam film industry. 

Upcoming Malayalam Movies in March - June, 2024

• Thankamani (Super Good Films) - March 7, 2024 
• The Goat Life/Aadujeevitham (Prithviraj) - March 28, 2024
• Aavesham (Fahadh Faasil) - March 29, 2024
• Varshangalkku Shesham (Pranav Mohanlal, Dhyan Sreenivasan, Kalyani Priyadarshan, Nivin Pauly) - April 11, 2024
• Jai Ganesh (Unni Mukundan, Mahima Nambiar) - April 11, 2024
• Turbo (Mammootty) - June 13, 2024

It is worth mentioning here that Malayalam movies not just faced back to back failures at the box-office for years now, they had also recorded the lowest viewership on OTT platforms. Hopefully the 2024 success streak will bring back the interest in Malayalam cinema not just with the regional audience, but also PAN India.