While his elder brother Suriya bounced back strongly this year after a string of setbacks, Karthi’s theatrical market has come under pressure, with his recent films failing to make an impact at the box office.
Several of his recent releases have struggled commercially, and their OTT premieres are arriving much sooner than usual.
While Karthi continues to command a market on OTT platforms, the shrinking theatrical run of his films could become a concern.
“Vaa Vaathiyaar”, which was released in December last year, premiered on OTT in January, just a few weeks after its theatrical release.
Earlier this month, “Sardar 2” arrived in theatres but failed to perform as expected. The film is now set to premiere on Amazon Prime Video on October 1, barely three weeks after its theatrical release.
Such quick OTT premieres can affect a star’s theatrical value, particularly when distributors and exhibitors are looking for longer runs to recover their investments.
Karthi is currently working on his upcoming Telugu film with director Kalyan Shankar and has also signed “HIT 4”.
With his recent theatrical track record under scrutiny, the teams behind his upcoming films will be keenly watching how his market shapes up.