Suriya, who was once a bankable star hero down South is now struggling to score a theatrical hit. Both his previous films, Soorarai Pottru and Jai Bhim premiered directly on OTT and that appears to have resulted in further depletion in Suriya’s market. This has cast a negative spell on Suriya’s upcoming film – ET.
The advance bookings for ET in the Tamil market are shockingly low. The bookings in the Telugu states are abysmal as well.
Suriya needed one solid blockbuster to regain the aura to pull the audiences to theatres. Soorarai Pottru (Aakasam Nee Haddura in Telugu) promised to have just that. But Suriya, who produced the film gave it a direct to OTT release. The film received a rousing reception from the OTT audience, but it evidently did not boost his box office image. Jai Bhim falls under the same category but it is an OTT-bound film.
Suriya appears to have missed the trick by not holding his trump card – Soorarai Pottru for theatrical release and thus wasted a golden opportunity. Also, the audience might be so very accustomed to watching his films on OTT that they are not ready to step out to watch his films in theatres. It could also be the case of the trailer and other promotional material not reaching the masses.
Either way, ET’s utterly poor bookings highlight Suriya’s market fall and this has come as a shocker to everyone. It remains to be seen if the film can garner a unanimously positive response after it hits the silver screens and then gain momentum at the box office.
