Ramcharan’s multi-sport drama, Peddi, had high expectations since its announcement. The first teaser for the film received a strong response from audiences. The song ‘Chikiri Chikiri’, became a chartbuster and got millions of views. Although the trailer did not create the expected impact, the makers of the film did huge promotions and created enough buzz around the film.
Ram Charan in multiple events and promotions before the release, talked highly about the film and appeared very confident about its success. All of the above-mentioned factors worked out and helped the film to get good openings in Telugu states.
Even with mixed talk after the release, the Telugu version of the film did well throughout the weekend and held up well during the weekdays in India. However, the film’s less impressive performance in North America is what took everyone in the trade circles by surprise and sent shockwaves through the industry.
Aside from the first day of opening bookings, the film’s pre-sales never appeared promising. The bookings increased as the release approached, but at no stage did they match those of a major star-driven film.
What’s more surprising is the lack of interest among the Telugu diaspora in North America, even after the film received good reviews from the largely followed Telugu web portals. Yes, there was mixed talk and a section of social media, raised concerns about the way Janhvi Kapoor’s character was designed in the film, but by and large, the post-release word of mouth was decent to good.
The film has so far collected close to three million dollars in North America but considering the star power, expectations and decent to good word of mouth, it would have collected much more.
What exactly went wrong? Why did the audience not show much interest in watching the films in theatres in North America, at least until now? Is it because of the ticket prices? Is it because of the changing preferences of the Telugu audience in North America?
The mixed talk and the negative discussion around certain aspects of several big films on social media may have damaged the film’s prospects to an extent, but before the release, there were good expectations around the film and on the premiere day, the early word of mouth was largely positive. However, both these factors did not help the film register good numbers.
So, the sole reason for the underperformance is not exactly the mixed talk. What else then?
The major contributing factor seems to be exuberant ticket prices. Going by the booking trend, it was evident that the general audience, excluding the fans and the young people, isn’t interested anymore in paying $25 for premieres and $20 from day one to watch movies.
Going by the analysis by multiple trade analysts, the Dhurandhar series films benefited from the huge patronage of the Telugu audience. Especially, the Telugu audience was estimated to have contributed at least $4-5 million gross in North America, to the second part of Dhurandhar.
The audience loved Part 1 and the standard ticket pricing which the makers opted for, helped the film pull in audiences in huge numbers for multiple weeks. ‘When a film like ‘Dhurandhar’, can be watched with just $12-15, why should I spend $25-20 for films that have not received unanimous word of mouth?
When the makers of ‘Dhurandhar’ and Hollywood movies, can opt for standard ticket pricing, why are Telugu distributors and producers, opting for double the ticket prices?’ – These are the two questions which a lot of people on social media are raising and this seems to be a common thought in the minds of Telugu diaspora in North America.
Peddi collected $212K on Sunday with a ticket price of $20 and with AMC & Regal passes enabled on Monday, the film collected $93K(i.e. more than 45% of Sunday). What exactly is the above stat trying to explain?
The Telugu audience is still ready to watch the movies in theatres in North America but they expect the ticket prices to be affordable. No matter how big the star hero is, they aren’t in the mood to shell out huge bucks anymore. Movies are an integral part of most Telugu people’s lives and it will remain the same forever. But, they aren’t going to let the makers exploit their love for cinema anymore.
The North American Telugu cinema market needs a correction. A correction of at least 30% in the quoting process by the producers. When the buying price reduces, the distributors will definitely go for standard ticket pricing.
Hopefully, better sense will prevail soon and the heroes, producers and distributors will come up with a solution soon to let the audience watch the films in theatres with standard ticket pricing. Until a correction is implemented, the things are going to get worse and PEDDI’s under performance, is just the start of a ‘worse’ period.
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