Are Kannada films making profits in 2025? Sandalwood’s quantity over quality strategy

New Delhi: After a month into 2025, the Kannada film industry has produced quite a few films. However, the Box Office performance does not seem to match up. According to industry tracker Sacnilk, Bollywood has made Rs 486.36 crore and Tollywood earned Rs 612.46 crore in worldwide Box Office collections. But, as previously mentioned, Sandalwood is quite behind.

It is to be noted that both Bollywood and Sandalwood have had a similar amount of releases in 2025, so why is Sandalwood lagging behind? Let’s look at the data and find out.

Sandalwood movies at the Box Office in 2025

Flashback to early 2025, the year began with three Kannada releases. Next followed the festive season, and Sankranti saw quite a few movie premieres. While the third week was quiet, the end of January saw an astonishing nine movies hitting cinemas. So far, 2025 has seen 23 Kannada films, out of which only one film, Choo Mantar managed to cross the Rs 5 crore milestone.

As per Sacnilk data, Sandalwood has earned Rs 195.01 crore in total worldwide collections and only Rs 9.46 crore in nett collection in the first month of 2025. It is to be noted that in 2024, out of 227 films released, only eight achieved success, resulting in estimated losses of approximately Rs 520 crore for the industry, according to a report by The Federal.

As of now, there are seven confirmed releases scheduled for February 2025 while March has two movies slated. Similar to the previous year, the industry is predicted to cross the 200 films/year mark, but will it manage to lower the losses?

Kannada Vs Malayalam movies at the Box Office

When compared to Mollywood, the data shows that Malayalam movies have earned over twice as much as Kannada films. Sacnilk’s data confirms that Mollywood earned Rs 279.15 crore in total worldwide collection and Rs 53.84 crore in nett earnings. It is to be noted that while there were a total of 29 Malayalam releases in January 2025, the top 10 earning Malayalam films this year have earned far more when compared to Sandalwood.

Some might say that it is the quantity of films that matters when it comes to Box Office numbers. However, the current trend indicates ongoing financial difficulties for the Kannada film sector.