35-movie-a-marketing-disaster

35 – Chinna Katha Kaadu is probably one of the few films in recent times that received unanimous praise, thanks to its honest story, writing, and especially the performances, particularly by Nivetha Thomas.

It wasn’t just user reviews; this is likely the only film that earned such consistent 3/5 ratings across all Telugu websites, from small to large platforms.

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But now the question arises: Did it do well? Did it reach its potential target audience? The answer is a resounding NO, and the blame falls squarely on the makers, who believed that paid premieres would do all the promotion for the film. This is where the failure began.

In reality, there was little buzz generated from paid premieres in India, and the makers failed to see this.

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When you opt for paid premieres, the usual audience is mostly youth, not women or families. How the makers thought paid premieres would promote such a film is a mystery.

Leaving that aside, the strange part is that the U.S. distributor was also one of the producers of the film. Yet, they couldn’t even manage a decent release in the U.S.

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During the first week, the film had very few shows at odd times, and in the second weekend, they added a few extra theaters, again with inconvenient showtimes. But by then, audiences had already moved on to newer release.

The release was so poorly handled that a film like 35, which could have appealed to U.S. audiences, went completely unnoticed and has collected only $135K so far, likely ending around $150K. This shows just how disastrous the planning was in the U.S.




The failed strategy of paid premieres in India led to an equally disastrous result in the U.S. – this marketing failure cannot be explained any better. This film will serve as a valuable example in the future of what not to do, especially when making a well-intentioned film aimed at a specific target audience.