This is something that has been silently observed for the past few months and now people have opened up to this idea more than before looking at a larger sample set. Ticket prices were hiked in summer last year and many in the trade welcomed it with opened arms expecting that with increase in ticket prices, the collections too would proportionately increase. The first big film to take its advantage was Allu Arjun starrer Iddarammayilatho, it was a flop and yet it emerged as the second highest grosser ever for the actor. It went with the initial though of the trade of proportional expansion of the market and everyone seemed happy about hike.
However, immediately doubts began to appear post the release of Thadaka. This Naga Chaitanya and Sunil starrer opened with decent to good reviews and similarly had a good word of mouth as well. It opened well but as days passed by it couldn’t show any growth, the collections did not reflect the talk it had and despite good word of mouth it couldn’t become career highs in both Naga Chaitanya and Sunil career’s. It was followed by Balupu which became the highest grosser in the career of Ravi Teja. The trade therefore was in two minds over this ticket price issue.
But it was Ramayya Vastavayya followed by Bhai and other disasters in the last quarter of last year that sealed the deal for the trade. People were simply not interested to check out a flop film in theaters which meant that the revenues plummeted big time, after the initial few days, where as previously people at least decided to see it once if the project was genuinely hyped. Even a film like Masala carrying mixed talk couldn’t sustain and the reason was put squarely on the hike in ticket prices.
The final nail on the coffin was the Sankranthi releases 1 Nenokkadine and Yevadu. Both can be cited as the perfect examples of the films that are affected by the rate hike. While the former is the example of a film finding hard to survive beyond the opening, the latter was the example of a film dropping badly after a great opening because of mixed word of mouth. So far the only film’s that seems to be enjoying this price hike is the films that have been truly liked as those films have become the biggest hits the career of those stars.
How many of you have stopped watching the film a second time or reduced the views compared to previously, even if its starred your favorite actor just because of the increase in prices. Share us your views so that everyone else could get a clear idea for themselves.
