CHENNAI: Count Dracula is facing off with a ghost who haunts an aalamaram (banyan tree). This out-worldly clash will play out on the big screen starting this Friday. Much to film buffs’ delight, a whopping 20 films are hitting screens across the city, in Tamil, Hindi, Telugu and English. Of these, nine are small-budget Tamil films that are looking to enjoy a short run before films like Vijay’s Kaththi release for Diwali.
Theoretically, this is the only ‘vacant’ weekend for small films to enjoy a week’s run with films like Vikram’s I, Rajinikanth’s Lingaa, Kamal’s Uthama Villain and Papanasam, and Ajith’s Thala55 slated for release till Pongal. But such a bombardment cannot bode well for theatre owners, according to Kothandaramaiah Reddy (Keyaar) of the Tamil Film Producers Council. “It is an unhealthy trend which has been started by novice producers. They are only worried about releasing their films and not about whether it makes a profit,” he said.
The end result is that highly anticipated horror flicks like Annabelle and Dracula Untold, that normally do well when dubbed in Tamil, have lost out on prime screen space. “This is severely cutting into the distributors’ revenue,” said a film industry source. Most multiplexes have awarded one or two shows to these movies and scattered them over the weekend. “Annabelle was the first to get sold out. The Tamil films are lagging in pre-booking,” said an employee at SPI Cinemas.
At the last minute, a film called Panduvam pulled out because they weren’t able to get any screens.
Films releasing in Tamil include Aalamaram, Gubeer, Jamaai, Vennila Veedu and Yavum Vasapadum. Hollywood flicks Dracula Untold, Annabelle and Bermuda Tentacles may be dubbed in Tamil too. In Hindi, Spark, Paathshala and Tamanchey will hit the screens.