Starless and powerless summer of 2012

The summer of 2012 (April-May) will go down in Kollywood history, as one and not using a star releases. Summer is thought of as the most efficient season to release star spangled biggies.However this year there's not going to be even a single superstar release. Says Film News Anandan, Kollywood chronicler: “For the primary time ever within the history of Tamil box-office there's not going to be a single superstar release during prime summer time. Prior to now all biggies used to release in April-May, this year there's no star movies and only small hero films are releasing.”

The current lot of “stars with an opening” had a summer blockbuster of their career that got them membership in exclusive superstar club. Take a look- Rajinikanth’s Padayappa (April10, 1999), Kamal Haasan’s Indian (May 9, 1996), Vijay’s Ghilli, Ajith’s Citizen, Suriya’s Ayan and Vikram’s Saamy etc. Karthi established himself as a saleable star together with his Paiyaa released during summer of 2010.

Annamalai, president of Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners association says: “From MGR and Sivaji days, a summer release is a must for a large hero. Films released in this period always make an additional 10% on the box-office. Since schools and colleges are closed in this period, a summer hit becomes a family outing. Theatres are very unhappy that for the primary time in history no major star films is releasing during summer of 2012.”

Why no star driven releases this summer? Ajith’s Billa 2, Suriya’s Matraan, Kamal’s Viswaroopam and Karthi’s Saguni were initially announced as summer 2012 releases. But because of the strike within the industry, the shoot of those films got delayed and release got postponed.

The IPL 5 schedule from April 4 to May 27, give producers an excuse to postpone their releases. But IPL has no effect at the box-office as proved by previous summer hits. Actually this year the large success of Udhayanidhi Stalin’s debut film as hero Oru Kal Oru Kannadi proves that IPL matches has not taken away audiences from summer releases.

And theatres across Tamil Nadu are feeling the heat, as a few of the shows need to be conducted using generators as a result of power cut. Will small films with hardly any big names justify the price of cinema theatre operations, as ticket prices remain static ?