With ₹1000-crore loss and 223 flops, 2024 spelled one of the worst years for Tamil cinema
Though Tamil cinema celebrated the success of several movies in 2024 like Amaran, Maharaja and Garudan, the year was, in fact, one of the most disappointing ones for the Tamil film industry. According to reports, nearly ₹3000 crore was spent by Tamil film producers in 2024 on making films but producers and distributors eventually ended up incurring an overall loss of around ₹1000 crore. Off the 241 films released last year, only about 18 films were successful at the box office meaning that 223 failed. Now, Kollywood is hoping that 2025 will be a better year and some are looking to recalibrate content while others are focusing on budgets. But what led to this humungous loss for producers in 2024? Was it the content, quality of films and/or audience fatigue that made the year a challenging one for filmmakers? (Also read: Rajinikanth’s manager fires shots at director for calling Billa a flop film: ‘Ensure accuracy in your statements’)
Dominos fall
One of the major factors attributed to the ₹1000 crore loss by producers is the fact that numerous big budget films – with stars like Suriya, Kamala Haasan and Rajiniaknth no less – unexpectedly sank at the box office. Take Suriya’s much-hyped pan-Indian flick Kanguva for instance. Reportedly made on a budget of ₹350 crore, the film was extensively promoted across India with the producer KE Gnanavel Raja confident that the movie would post at least ₹1000 crore at the box office on release. Unfortunately, it bit the dust and Kanguva managed just to make just a shocking ₹106 crore. Director Shankar’s Indian 2 was said to have been made on a budget of ₹250 crore but it collected only around ₹150 crore at the box office. The audience rejected these films, as well as other big films like Rajinikanth’s Vettaiyan, sending Kollywood into a tizzy.

Producer and distributor, BOFTA G Dhananjeyan, explained, “Tamil Cinema had high expectations for big budget films like Indian 2, Kanguva and Vettaiyan but none of them worked with the audience. Only The Greatest of All Time (GOAT) starring Thalapathy Vijay worked at the box office. Hence unlike 2023, in which Tamil Cinema had several hits (like Jailer, Leo, Ponniyin Selvan 2, Varisu, Thunivu, etc), 2024 did not have many hits. The top performers were limited to The GOAT, Amaran, Raayan, Aranmani 4, Maharaja and nine other films also did reasonably well. With just 18 films out of 241 becoming successful, the success ratio has come down to 7% and the remaining 93% films were big failures. In fact, almost 150 films did not even cover the digital print and publicity expenses.”
Where are the big guns?
But 70% of the total films made each year in a film industry often do fail at the box office. It is the norm rather than the exception. Despite that, the losses faced by producers and distributors is reduced when big budget films do phenomenally well at the box office, balancing the loss-profit equation. Trade analyst Ramesh Bala stated, “If in a year 200 movies are made, at least 30 to 40 will succeed at various levels like blockbuster, super hit, hit or break even. So, I’m not surprised that many movies failed in 2024. But big movies also failed last year like Kanguva, Indian 2 and even Vettaiyan didn’t do as well as Jailer. The audience rejects a film due its poor content or screenplay and so on. And there are several other factors as well connected to the movie’s content. It’s a cycle – sometimes big films click, sometimes content-oriented small films click.”
Every year Tamil cinema also sees many hits among the small and medium budget flicks but in 2024, there was a paucity of hits in that segment too. Dhananjeyan added, “Even small and medium budget films saw just a handful of hits last year. Films like Garudan, Lubber Pandhu, DeMonte Colony 2 and Vaazhai worked well at box office.” The Tamil audience no longer seems to be star-struck and hooked on lavish productions but is demanding better scripts with better stories and performances. And this was proved yet again in January 2025. We saw the release of director Shankar’s pan-Indian film Game Changer starring Ram Charan – the Tamil version of the film earned just around ₹10 crore at the box office with the film trade calling this a failure. Meanwhile, two much smaller Tamil films – Madha Gaja Raja and Kudumbasthan – have turned major hits this month, grossing more than ₹70 crore and ₹10 crore, respectively. Thus, good stories remain the priority for the Tamil audience at this point.
Having said that, 2025 sees some big Tamil films on the way including Ajith Kumar’s Vidaamuyarchi and Good Bad Ugly, Rajinikanth’s Coolie, Kamal Haasan’s Thug Life, Suriya’s Retro and a possible Sivakarthikeyan film. Despite how 2024 went, Tamil film distributors and producers, including Dhananjeyan, are highly optimistic. “Overall, 2024 was a challenging year for Tamil Cinema but the film industry is expecting to bounce back in 2025 with a bigger hit ratio and bigger hit films,” he said.