55 Kannada films release in 59 days of 2025; mostly misses

The year 2024 ended on a high note for the Kannada film industry as both yearender releases, UI and MAX, managed to rake in good footfalls for both single screens and multiplexes, while also keeping the box-office collections ringing. In 2025, January and February saw a surge of Kannada film releases, with 22 and 33 films hitting theatres respectively. While the first four weeks of January averaged three or four releases, the final week witnessed nine films!
Lack of star-driven films dampening audience enthusiasm?
Given the Kannada film industry’s typical annual output of a little over 200 films, this year’s release count is poised to climb. But, the absence of stardriven films appears to have contributed to the overall lacklustre performance in the first two months. Bigticket films of actors like Shivarajkumar, Raj B Shetty, Upendra, Dhruva Sarja, Rishabh Shetty, Ramesh, Ganesh, Vijay Kumar, Dhananjaya are all slated for release in the second half of the year.

Generating buzz, word-of-mouth key to guaranteeing a larger audience for a movie?
Naveen Shankar’s Nodidavaru Enantare, which debuted on January 31, saw its screen count increase within three days. Director Kuldeep Cariappa shares, “It started off with the usual Friday panic as the seats were not full in many theatres. But after the evening show on Friday, there was this huge momentum on social media. People started tagging us after watching the film. By Monday, we had added 13 new screens because of demand. I met people in the audience who were watching it for the third time. Along with Nodidavaru, there were eight other Kannada releases that week, plus other language films, and the following week we had a very big Tamil film coming up. But amid these, Nodidavaru managed to reach the right audience, thanks to social media and word-of-mouth.
Kannada cinema pins hope on big-ticket releases of 2025
Amidst the flood of releases, films like Choomantar, Sanju Weds Geetha 2, Bhuvanam Gaganam, Siddlingu 2, Vishnu Priya, Gana, Royal, Rudra Garuda Purana, Forest, Shabhash Baddimagane stood out, largely thanks to the recognisable names attached to them. Sharan’s Choomantar team recently celebrated its 50-day run, declaring the film an “organic hit”. Similarly, Chikkanna’s Forest was the critics’ favourite among the lot. However, films like Prajwal Devraj’s Gana, Sanju Weds Geetha 2 (starring Srinagara Kitty and Rachita Ram), the highly anticipated Siddlingu 2 (with Yogi and Sonu Gowda), and Dinakar Thoogudeepa’s Royal underperformed at the box office. Films such as Nimma Vastugalige Neeve Javabdararu, Unlock Raghava, and Bhaava Terra Yaana showed promise in terms of content. The remaining releases were largely formulaic, featuring average to subpar performances

Oversaturation, uneven screen distribution to blame?
A film buff and industry insider, who wished to remain anonymous, said, “I cannot even name 10 films among the 55 released so far this year. I have my own friends discussing films like Tamil’s Vidaamuyarchi, Dragon, Telugu’s Daaku Maharaj, Hindi’s Chhaava. I live in Bengaluru and I haven’t heard about so many (Kannada) films releasing, and how can we even think of reaching audiences in Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities? We, as an audience, want quality over quantity any day. This also comes with screen issues and show cancellations because of lack of audience. Because of the random, uneven distribution of screens, I may never get to watch the Kannada film I wanted to watch in my locality, and I may totally miss out on a good film because it wasn’t playing in a theatre near me.