Sandalwood scores fastest 50

With earlier years averaging 120-130

Kannada

films hitting screens, this year is set to beat that, with the industry scoring a 50 already in the first quarter of 2016. As many as 56 films have released in the first three months of the year, with many Fridays witnessing 5-7 simultaneous releases.

Quite a few industry veterans have already been vocal about the detrimental effect of this trend, which kills competition internally. A closer look at the releases this year reveals that the numbers may be many, but the race for the survival of the fittest is getting harder than ever.
The end of 2015 and this year have so far seen an increased number of films being censored, giving rise to a huge backlog of films that await release. Adding to the worries of the films that are in queue are big-ticket productions, which target specific dates, ensuring that many have to play a waiting game to dodge the problem of limited screen availability.
Most big cities in the state also have audiences that watch movies in other languages as well, which means that Kannada films not only have to fight for screens among themselves, but also against Hindi, English, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam releases.
Earlier, there was an unspoken norm with veterans in the industry holding fort, ensuring that only 2-3 films release each week. But with greater competition and an increased number of newcomers entering the industry, releasing a film itself is turning out to be a big achievement. With all of this, the days of Kannada films touching the 100-day mark at the box office are increasingly becoming history.
This year, only a handful of Kannada films have sustained long runs in cinema halls. Films like

Kathe Chitrakathe Nirdeshana Puttanna

,

Last Bus

and

Shivalinga

enjoyed longer runs in the halls. Others that managed to surpass the 25-day mark included

Maduveya Mamatheya Kareyole

,

Killing Veerappan

,

Ricky

,

Kiragoorina Gayyaligalu

and

Simpallag Innondh Love Story

.
Last year, there were many people who complained about a lack of screens for film releases. While this problem is still unattended to, makers seem to be in a hurry to release the films in whatever screens they find. Bigger cities like Bengaluru, Mysuru, Hubballi and Mangaluru are getting more multiplexes, but these bigger players are keen on screening English and Hindi films along with bigger Tamil and Telugu and Tamil releases in their prime-time slots. This has become another bone of contention for the industry, which is fighting for fixed slots and screens during prime time.
Many of the newer, younger films like

RangiTaranga

,

First Rank Raju

and Last Bus have crossed these hurdles to get those screens and longer runs in multiplexes. However, they account for a fraction of the films that have survived the barrage of films this year. The upcoming months don't look any different, with more films lined up to hit the screens, making it tougher for films to survive the onslaught.