Box Office: Kollywood witnesses one of its worst years with losses to the tune of Rs 1000 crore in 2024

With the disastrous performance of big tentpole movies, the Tamil film industry witnessed one of the biggest loss-making years in 2024. Check out the details.

Written by Mohit Dixit , Journalist

Updated on Jan 30, 2025 | 02:33 PM IST | 20.1K

Credits: Studio Green, Lyca Productions

2024 turned out to be a colossal disappointing year for Tamil cinema as the film industry faced a massive loss of around Rs 1000 crore. Though the Kollywood film industry celebrated the successes of Maharaja, Raayan, Amaran and others, overall, the year could not end up being fruitful.

As per reports of Hindustan Times, filmmakers spent Rs 3000 crore on over 241 movies that got released in Tamil film industry last year, of which, only 18 could sail through a successful theatrical run. While 223 movies couldn't recover their production cost and failed miserably, making 2024 “one of the worst years” for the industry.

Though this is not an exceptional case! Usually, 30% of the total released movies in a year emerge successful at various levels- Hit, Superhit, Blockbuster and others while the rest end up on a sad note. But, it's the big tentpole movies who keep on balancing the loss-profit share for the industry. Sadly, Tamil cinema witnessed one after another big movie bombing at the box office, last year.

Two of the colossal disasters of Tamil cinema were Suriya starrer Kanguva and Kamal Haasan starrer Indian 2. Mounted on a huge scale and production cost, both titles were released with much anticipation. However, both turned out to be big loss-makers for the producers and distributors.

As Pinkvilla earlier reported, Indian 2 grossed over Rs 151 crore globally, Kanguva couldn't even touch the Rs 100 crore and wrapped its global theatrical run at just Rs 96 crore.

The third disappointment for Tamil cinema was Rajinikanth starrer Vettaiyan. Though the TJ Gnanavel directorial received positive reception, it couldn't repeat the blockbuster success of Jailer. Vettaiyan ended its worldwide cume at Rs 240 crore.

The success of Thalapathy Vijay's The Greatest Of All Time, Sivakarthikeyan's Amaran, Vijay Sethupathi's Maharaja, Dhanush's Raayan and others, recovered some chunk of the total expense. Though 2024 wasn't fruitful for the Kollywood film industry, all eyes are now on 2025.

Tamil Cinema is hoping for a profitable box office year in 2025 as the upcoming slate looks complete banger. Some of the biggest box office bets from the Kollywood industry are - Vidaamuyarchi, Good Bad Ugly, Coolie, Jana Nayagan, Thug Life, and Retro.

Share your thoughts on the same. Stay tuned to Pinkvilla for more updates.