Why The Malayalam Film Industry Lost Rs 700 Crores Despite Massive Hits In 2024
If there was one film industry that outperformed all in this country, it was the Malayalam film industry that gave consistent hits in a variety of genres. From the black-and-white folk horror Bramayugam to the National Award-winning Aattam, from the survival thriller Manjummel Boys to Prithiviraj’s survival drama Aadujeevitham, the regional film industry kept on experimenting with genres and stories.
Out of the top ten highest-grossing Malayalam films worldwide, this year alone produced six of these highest-grossing films: Manjummel Boys, The Goat Life, Aavesham, Premalu, ARM, and Guruvayoor Ambalanadayil.
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Despite all of that, the Malayalam industry suffered a loss of nearly Rs 700 crore, according to the Kerala Film Producers Association (KFPA).
As per KFPA, over 199 films and five remastered versions of movies were released in theatres this year with the investment amounting to Rs 1,000 crore.
“26 films made a profit of Rs 300-350 crore; the rest suffered a loss of Rs 650-700 crore,” said B. Rakesh, KFPA secretary.
These 26 films can be categorised as superhits, hits, or average hits. “The rest were not even noticed by the audience,” emphasises Rakesh.
He also added that in the previous year, 200 films were released and the industry faced losses. However, small-budget films performed better in 2024.
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One thing that the KFPA observed was that 2024 proved that the audience was unpredictable. Films that performed well at the box office belonged to completely different genres and were made on small budgets.
“Yet they brought people to theatres. This shows Mollywood needs more diverse content to please the audience,” said Liberty Basheer, a theatre owner and producer, as quoted by The New Indian Express.
Observing the trend of films starring superstars like Vijay and Rajinikanth failing to pull the Malayalam audience to theatres, Basheer noted that the Kerala audience wasn’t bothered about big names but quality content.
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Saji Nathyattu, general secretary of Film Chamber, Kerala, said, “An industry like Mollywood does not need 200 or more films every year. Last year, 222 films were released, but only 12 were hits. We don’t need many films. Most of the time, the audience does not even know the films that are released in a week.”
He also observed that the release of the Hema Committee report in August and the series of sexual allegations that followed in its aftermath also affected the success of Malayalam films this year.
