Leave 1000 Cr, Even 500 Cr Tough For Tollywood?

Tollywood has developed this rich habit of having multiple films in the thousand crore bracket at the global box office. The likes of Baahubali 2, RRR, Pushpa 2, Kalki, and others have entered this bracket earlier.

However, in terms of thousand crore market, Tollywood might be having a rather dull and inconsequential year in 2025. Not a single big hero film that is lined up for release this year has the tenacity to touch the thousand crore mark.

Let alone, thousand crore Tollywood might not even be touching the 500 crore mark this year and the same is to be understood if we look at the kind of lineup that is on offer.

The first star hero film of the year was Game Changer and it was a non starter at the box office. Next in line is Hari Hara Veera Mallu, as the makers are still confidently, saying the film is releasing on March 28.

The film indeed being projected as an Indian attempt, but considering the extreme delay in production and limited appeal in non Telugu markets, not too much can be expected.

Raja Saab is arriving this year, but Prabhas is not quite placing this film in the pan India bracket. It isn’t the usual pan India canvas attempt from Prabhas in any way, it must be noted. It’s going to be a horror drama and might have regional market prospects, unless Maruthi cooks up a wonder and attracts pan Indian folk.

There is NTR’s War 2 but this isn’t a straight Telugu film either. So whatever box office returns, this film manages will go into the credit of Bollywood as it has Bollywood hero Hrithik Roshan and Bollywood director Ayan Mukerjee.

Into 2024, we had not one, but two new entries into the thousand crore market from Tollywood – Pushpa 2 and Kalki. But this year might not be as lucrative for the Telugu film industry.