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Why did Game Changer fared so poorly at box office?

on Jan 20, 2025


Game Changer starring Ram Charan and directed by Shankar should have been able to rake up good enough moolah to make it at least a safe bet at the box office. Combination of a star hero and a director with 25 years of huge reputation should have been enough to bring in audiences to theatres during festival season. 


In fact, a film like I, managed to rake in big openings for any dubbed film in Telugu states. Even though it did not become as bigger and popular a blockbuster as Aparichitudu, the openings allowed the movie to recover losses. Even 2.0 could pertain at box office in Tamil and Telugu states despite negative word-of-mouth. 


With such a track record, one flop like Indian 2 shouldn't have been such a big issue for the combination to garner enough excitement. While the makers claimed huge opening day number with a poster, every trade expert countered their claim within no time. As a result, the producers have stopped sharing numbers for the film. 


It is important to understand, why the movie had such a low opening despite such a huge combination. Keeping the movie's merit based on content aside, let's try to understand why the buzz and anticipation never reached desired heights. 


Songs failed to spark any sort of interest for the film. Even before any teaser or trailer, every Shankar film's fan have huge anticipation to listen to the songs. Each and every audio of the director have been hits including Indian-2, where Katharals song and Paara being pick of them all. 


While many dissed them as not being up to the mark for the sequel of a film like Indian, prior to release Katharalz did find traction. In Game Changer's case, Jaragandi song got leaked and due to huge negativity, it had to be changed and re-recorded. Except for Naana Hyraana nothing did strike a chord. 


I managed to have some run at box office despite negative reception, due to songs. Thaman could not really inspire audiences to rush to theatres to watch the film. On top of that, teasers and trailers did not click big time with the audiences. It almost became certain that movie is not going to be hit at the box office. 


Fans of Ram Charan also did not showcase huge interest in the film. The teaser and trailer needed that epic feel but Shankar seemed to be in rush and lack of ideas while presenting the teaser and trailer as well. It could be over-confidence or arrogance or indecisiveness, Shankar never looked entirely in command. 


Not about the content but promotions and creating buzz wise even. If he was over-confident, he would not have cared about music or strategies to promote. If he was complacent and arrogant, he would have just stood his ground at every juncture not heeding to others. If he was indecisive, he wouls have just been clueless. 


It looked like a mix of everything. He never faced huge failures but he did with Indian 2 and producer Dil Raju would have put more pressure on him to make it at least a safe bet. His long list of successes, would have easily made him arrogant while pressure of failure could have made him indecisive. 


In any case, Shankar and entire clan of directors who bet big money, needs to learn from these experiences that they need to be mindful about changing times and update themselves rather than just believing in their constructed images. Nothing is permanent and image is too. 


A better promotional campaign might have helped Game Changer to at least have some recovery during festival as Sankrantiki Vasthunnam is proving how promotions help bring audiences to theatres. Let's hope this movie would end up being a case study in "how not to promote a big film"!


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