The month of September closed with a massive film namely Devara Part 1. The month marked the end of a long wait for a big film in the Indian cinematic context. Post Stree 2, we hadn’t witnessed a movie that went superhit. Fortunately, the wait was over with Devara taking the stage.
In fact, the whole year of 2024 has not been that productive with respect to the box office. Though we had some big films, still most of the year we could not see successful projects. The streak is expected to break in the last quarter of the year with some highly anticipated films waiting ahead. Devara, can be called as the opening of the period.
Interestingly, after the release of Devara today, we find that next week will be devoid of a good release nationally as well as regionally. The only films lined up for release next week are some regional movies with very less exposure from the Bengali and Odia industry. On this, the first question arising in one’s mind is whether the audience will rely on older releases, or will these small films get a chance to make a mark?
The answer becomes quite complex. People tend to go towards a new thing, provided there is enough hype around it. Also, people’s retention towards anything will count on its quality. The films releasing next week fail to promise either of the two things. As a result, the chances of these films succeeding becomes very less. Also, considering the fact that a mega film like Devara released today, it is sure to dominate the next week for the least, giving a very small window to those releases.
This dearth of new films also points towards another thing. It might be the calm ocean before the cyclone. With one week left as a gap in between, huge films are lined up to take over the box office without giving us a break. The silence will be broken with Vettaiyan releasing on 10th October, then Martin followed by Singham Again, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3, Kanguva and so on. The gaps in between these releases will be filled by small-budget but significant releases like Vicky Vidya Ka Who Wala Video, completely filling up the schedule.
The next week sure does come as a halt to the box office (nationally at least). But the week will certainly be followed by months of big releases subsequently that’ll probably cause a huge impact to the collective Indian box office of the year.