Malayalam film industry registers ₹52 cr loss in February with only Officer on Duty minting money; a film made only ₹10k

The Kerala Film Producers’ Association (KFPA) released a report that out of the 17 Malayalam films released last month, only one was a hit.

The Kerala Film Producers’ Association (KFPA) has been sounding alarm bells for a while now. As further proof, they released a report on how out of 17 Malayalam films, only one film was a hit while the biggest flop collected only ₹10,000, according to The Hindu. (Also Read: L2 Empuraan trailer: Mohanlal returns to save ‘God's own country’; Rajinikanth, SS Rajamouli, Ram Gopal Varma all praise)

Kunchacko Boban in a still from his hit film Officer on Duty.

Malayalam films face ₹52 crore loss

The KFPA also released exact numbers for how much the 17 films collected in theatres to “bust the trend of making inflated claims on the box-office earnings of movies that had failed to click.”The association plans to do this monthly.

KFPA vice-president G Suresh Kumar told the press, “Of the 17 movies released in February, there was only one hit, Officer on Duty. Two movies, including Daveed and Bromance, may not suffer loss, as it may compensate the gap in theatre share through the sale of OTT and other rights.”

According to the association, the total budget of the films released in February was around ₹75.23 crore, and the total share in theatre collections was only ₹23.55 crore. In January, they recorded a loss of ₹110 crore, with 28 films released that month.

A breakdown of the collections

According to News18 Malayalam, a breakdown of the film’s budget and theatre share was provided by KFPA.

Movie	Budget	Theatre share
Izha	₹63 lakh	₹45,000
Lovedale	₹1.60 crore	₹10,000
Narayaneente Moonnaanmakkal	₹5.48 crore	₹33 lakh
Bromance	₹8 crore	₹4 crore
Daveed	₹9 crore	₹3.50 crore
Painkili	₹5 crore	₹2.50 crore
Officer on Duty	₹13 crore	₹11 crore
Chattuli	₹3.40 crore	₹32 lakh
Get Set Baby	₹9 crore	₹1.40 crore
Thadavu	NA	NA
Urul	₹25 lakh	₹1 lakh
Machante Maalakha	₹5.12 crore	₹40 lakh
Athma Saho	₹1.50 crore	₹30 lakh
Arike	₹1.50 crore	₹55,000
Idi Mazha Kaattu	₹5.74 crore	₹2.10 lakh
Aapp Kaise Ho	₹2.50 crore	₹5 lakh
Randaam Yaamam	₹2.50 crore	₹80,000

Suresh also told the press that the earlier claims of numerous Malayalam films entering ₹50 crore and ₹100 crore clubs have been halted since the association decided to release the budget and theatre earnings. He alleged that top stars and technicians in Mollywood have been demanding salary hikes by promoting inflated box office numbers. In 2024, they claimed ₹700 crore loss.