Telangana government’s decision to stop special shows and ticket price hikes is likely to hit the BO collections for movies making it difficult for filmmakers to recover their investments
The tragic incident of a stampede at Sandhya theatre on December 4, leading to the death of a 37-year-old woman and asphyxiation of her eight-year-old son Sri Tej – who is currently undergoing treatment in a city hospital, has been grabbing headlines over the past few days, not just in Telangana but also across the nation.
The incident, which took place during the premiere show of Allu Arjun’s ‘Pushpa: The Rule’ screening, led to the arrest of the south actor who was later granted an interim bail.
During the Assembly session today (December 21), the Congress Government brought up the issue and added a surprising twist to the ‘sops’ story of the Telugu film industry. Chief Minister Revanth Reddy took a hard stand stating
that there will be no benefit shows, and no ticket price hikes in Telangana anymore. The decision, spoken about at length by Cinematography Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy, seems to be triggered by the said incident.
With this announcement, confusion prevails in the Telugu film industry as the future of many big-budget films lined up for Sankranti looks bleak. Filmmakers of big-ticket movies with huge stars and budgets that run into hundreds of crores of rupees usually try to recover their investment within the first few days by grabbing maximum shows/screens in theatres, hiking the ticket prices, and organising special/benefit/premiere shows.
But the government’s decision to not let any of these tactics going forward, the collections at the box-office are going to take a hit. Let’s take a look at the big-budget movies set to release in the next few months.
