Five Releases, Three Holidays and Still No Crowd-Puller

Tollywood box office had a golden opportunity this weekend. Saturday, Sunday and Monday holidays gave the latest releases an extended window to attract movie lovers, but the films have failed to make the most of it.

The straight Telugu releases Maremma, Epic and Mahendragiri Varahi have failed to impress audiences. None of them managed to generate the strong word of mouth needed to dominate the holiday weekend.

Epic is an even bigger disappointment considering its target audience. The film was designed around youngsters and contemporary youth experiences, with Anand Deverakonda and Vaishnavi Chaitanya coming together again after Baby. But the youngsters the director wanted to connect with have themselves been disappointed with the final output. The slow narration, stretched portions and weak ending have emerged as major complaints.

Maremma too failed to live up to its potential, while Mahendragiri Varahi could not create the expected theatrical impact.

The dubbed releases Sardar 2 and Mandaadi also entered the race, but they too failed to turn this into a memorable long weekend.

So, both dubbed and straight films have had their chance, but none has emerged as the clear crowd-puller of the weekend.

For the Telugu box office, this is a missed opportunity. Three holidays, multiple releases and plenty of theatre space, but no film strong enough to turn the long weekend into a big winner.