Maan Karate, the first official summer release, has take a good opening and the film is a blockbuster hit. Starring Siva Karthikeyan and Hansika, it has been directed by Thirukumaran an associate of AR Murugadoss. Incidentally, ARM had penned the story of the film apart from co-producing it.

Released on April 4th, 2014, the film’s box office collections have been revealed by credible trade sources. We hear that Maan Karate has grossed 7.71 crores at the Chennai box office during this 10-day period and the worldwide collections amounted to 35.61 crores.

The first quarter of the year 2014 began with six releases on January 3rd and unfortunately none of the films managed to even kindle an interest among the audiences. All of them moved out of the theatres without a trace and made way for two biggies – Ajith’s Veeram and Vijay’s Jilla – the next week, January 10th, 2014. Both these films took a phenomenal opening and the box office figures that were released drove home the point that it raked in profits for the producers. But, the Chairperson of the Producers’ Council, Keyar, revealed that the first success of the year that earned profits for its producers was Goli Soda and not Veeram or Jilla. Vijay Milton’s directorial venture with the ‘Pasanga’ boys is officially the first box office success.

During this past three months, several films, 53 to be precise, has hit the silver screens and many of them could not even continue its run at the theatres for a week. Though this sad state-of-affairs continues, there is no dearth for movie releases and the figure 53 proves this point beyond doubt.

Some of the biggies and highly anticipated films that failed miserably at the box office are Rummy, Malini 22 Palayamkottai, which is a remake of a Malayalam blockbuster, Bramman and Aaha Kalyanam which is a remake of a Hindi smash hit. Films like Pannaiyaarum Padminiyum, Idhu Kathirvelan Kaadhal, Vallinam and Nimirnthu Nil are reported not to have yielded good results where the cash counters are concerned despite positive word of mouth and good reviews.

On the other hand, Thegidi and Cuckoo, directed by newbies, have managed to garner the attention of the movie buffs with some out-of-the-box thinking. Inam and Nedunchalai released on March 28th to good reviews, but Inam was pulled out of theatres as few groups protested against its makers. Trade sources are of the opinion that at this rate, 2014 will have to see over 200 releases but the big question is: are the audiences ready? Well, what the audiences really want is not entertainment but also good and meaningful cinema that is worth the money they spend.

The Tamil film industry will be racing past 50 film releases for the year with the 4 releases this Friday - Inam, Oru Oorla, Nedunchalai and Marumunai. Being the 1st quarter of the new year, this marks a record of sorts as this is the first time that there will be more than 50 releases in the first 3 months of the year itself. Inam gets the credit for being the 50th Tamil release this year.
 
With a slew of many more releases planned every other week throughout the year, at the same rate, there is a very high likelihood that we may have more than 200 Tamil releases in a year for the first time.
 
Even though there have been more than 50 Tamil releases in the first 3 months, only very few films such as Goli Soda, Thegidi, Veeram, Jilla, Nimirnthu Nil and Idhu Kathirvelan Kadhal have managed to set the cash registers ringing. The industry and its stakeholders will be hoping for a much better strike rate in the coming weeks. 
 
April will begin with a bang with star-studded releases such as Maan Karate and Naan Sigappu Manithan. Superstar's Kochadaiyaan, Jigarthanda and a few more interesting films are expected to bring some reason for the trade to smile about.

Check out the box office collection report of Tamil films "Nimirnthu Nil", "Thegidi", "Vallinam", "Idhu Kathirvelan Kadhal" and "Aayirathil Oruvan" at the Chennai box office.



Nimirnthu Nil
Jayam Ravi's "Nimirnthu Nil" dominates the Chennai box office, thanks to no big releases in the last one week.

"Nimirnthu Nil," which was slated to hit the screens on 7 March, faced release issues and made it to theatres only from 8 March evening shows. The film witnessed good attendance in its opening weekend and continued to do solid business.

The Jayam Ravi starrer has earned over ₹1.8 crore at the end of the second weekend in Chennai theatres. The film hasn't lost a single show compared with last week.

Lack of big releases seems to have worked in the favour of "Nimirnthu Nil." The action-thriller flick, written and directed by Samuthirakani, is going rock steady. The film has successfully entered into its second week, but it remains to be seen whether the action entertainer will be able to sustain its business in the coming days.

Aayirathil Oruvan

MGR's yesteryear blockbuster flick "Aayirathil Oruvan" was digitally restored and was released on 14 March. The film took an average opening and earned more than ₹26.9 lakh in the first weekend at the Chennai box office.

The film had performed dismally on the first and the second day, but its performance was kind of okay on Sunday in multiplexes. Its business is expected to drop during the weekdays.

Thegidi

The murder mystery has emerged as one of the profitable ventures of the year.

The film, which released on 28 February, opened with good reviews from critics and the audience. Armed with positive word of mouth, "Thegidi" did decent business in its first week.

The film is going rock-steady even in its third week. The Ashok Selvan-Janani Iyer starrer has earned over ₹63 lakh in 17 days at the Chennai box office.

According to Producers Council's President Keyaar, only two films have turned out to be profitable ventures for all sections of trade, so far this year. One being "Goli Soda," the other one is "Thegidi." He revealed that the second week collection of "Thegidi" were better than its first week collections.

Vallinam

Nakul's "Vallinam" received positive reviews upon its release. The sports film took a decent opening, but its performance has dropped significantly.

The film is turning out to be a below average venture. It has minted over ₹67 lakh in 17 days at the Chennai box office.

Idhu Kathirvelan Kadhal

Udhayanidhi Stalin-Nayanthara starrer "Idhu Kathirvelan Kadhal" is fast approaching the 50-day mark. The film, which hit the screens on 14 February, registered a good opening in the first weekend.

The film did good business at the box office, thanks to decent feedback it received from critics and the audience. The romantic-comedy entertainer successfully completed 25 days and is still running in selected theatres.

The film has fetched over ₹3.6 crore at the Chennai box office.