Manjummel Boys, Aadujeevitham: The Goat Life, and Aavesham were among the top 10 highest-grossing movies in the country.Additionally, reports suggest that another Malayalam movie, Premalu, also crossed the Rs 100 crore threshold in box office collections.
Ormax Media told ET that Malayalam films contributed 19% of the total box office collection of Rs 3,791 crore across India during this period. Industry experts credit the success of Malayalam films to their diverse content offerings, which have been further bolstered by weaker line-ups in other languages, including Hindi. Malayalam films are gaining significant traction beyond their traditional markets of Kerala and the UAE.
Mukesh Mehta, founder of E4 Entertainment and producer of multiple Malayalam films, said that films like Manjummel Boys, Aadujeevitham, and Aavesham presented unique stories to audiences.
Blockbuster year for Malayalam films
“Every movie is different from the other, and there is no repetition of the subject. That has helped Malayalam cinema. Moviegoers got to watch different types of movies,” he said.
Mehta also noted that the lack of strong films in other languages like Tamil, Telugu, and Hindi, as well as the impact of the writer’s strike on Hollywood releases, contributed to the success of Malayalam cinema.
According to Mehta, Malayalam movies have started performing well in North America and Europe after Covid-19, and are finding traction outside Kerala within India as well.
The Ormax report reveals that Malayalam, along with Telugu, secured the second-highest proportion of the cumulative domestic box office receipts, behind Hindi, which had a 33% share.
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Despite being produced at much smaller budgets compared to movies in other South Indian languages and Hindi, Malayalam films claimed a larger portion of the box office collections than Tamil, which held a 13% share.
Film trade website Sacnilk reports that Malayalam movies collected Rs 406 crore outside India.
NV Capital cofounder Nitin Menon has commented on the recent success of Malayalam cinema, saying, “Malayalam cinema has had a slew of hits over the last few months, and some of the movies even touched the magic Rs 100 crore number, which was not a common phenomenon in Malayalam cinema until last year.”
