In the Telugu states, both OG and Kantara Chapter 1 are the recent big releases that are still performing decently at the box office. However, many theatre owners are yet to recover their investments, as both films are still below the breakeven point. Since they invested heavily, theatre owners are not showing much interest in replacing these films with the upcoming Diwali releases or removing OG and Kantara Chapter 1 from screens.
They believe this Diwali will bring a long weekend, which could help OG and Kantara Chapter 1 improve their collections compared to the previous weekends. Moreover, since most of the Diwali releases are small to medium-budget films, theatre owners expect these two films to continue getting better occupancies during the festival.
Due to these calculations, producers and distributors are now facing tough challenges in securing a large number of screens. With four new films arriving this Diwali, all backed by top production houses, getting a good screen count has become a difficult task. A film with strong content will definitely perform well, but every team is aiming for a wide release during the festive season to ensure big collections, irrespective of the talk.
