Highest Grossing Kannada movies of the year in 2016
U Turn, Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu, Kiragoorina Gayyaligalu, Karva and Neer Dose are couple of highest grossing low-budget Kannada movies of 2016.PR Handout

Read the first part of the story
On being asked whether demonetisation has affected Sandalwood, Krishna Chaitanya says no and claims it will be good for the industry in some ways. "It has reduced the number of movies and all unwanted movies will be out of the race now. When my film was released, there were seven movies that had hit screens along with my film," he points out.

This is also a year where Sandalwood started making steady inroads into the US market. Movies like U-Turn and Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu performed well. Pawan Kumar, whose last two movies have performed well here, says "Instead of going to rural places, we decided to target overseas audience. I see it as a natural progression as today taking our movies to foreign countries is lot easier compared to five years ago. It is a good start for us."

Top Grossers at Kannada box office in 2016
Movie Name Gross Status
Doddamane Huduga Biggest hit at box office despite getting mixed reviews.  Rs-35-40 crore. Hit 
Kottigobba 2 Performed well at many centres.  Rs-35-38 crore. Hit 
Shivalinga Top performer in the first quarter and currently being remade now in Tamil.  Rs 35 crore Superhit 
Jaggu Dada Darshan-starrer pulled good numbers of audience to theatres in first week. Rs 30-35 crore. Hit 
Santhu Straight Forward The Yash's film is declared under performer. Although it made a good collection, the profit margin is way lesser than expected. It was hit by demonetisation.  Above Rs 30 crore Hit 
Chakravyuha The theatrical rights sold for a higher price. But profit margin is less. Grossed over Rs 25 crore Recovered Investment.
Jaguar The bilingual movie had a good three-week run at the box office. It did well in Kannada, but failed at Telugu box office. Grossed over Rs 20 crore. Average Grosser (Kannada only)
Mungaru Male 2 Shashank's film enjoyed good viewership and attracted youths Grossed over 20 crore Almost recovered investment.
Neer Dose Jaggesh's much-delayed Neer Dose came out with a solid performance.  Above Rs 15 crore Superhit 
Kalpana Upendra and Priyamani's movie is expected to be in the safe zone. Grossed about Rs 15 crore Average Grosser
U Turn Movie made with a budget of just Rs 2.5 crore earned good profit.  About 10 crore Superhit 
Godhi Banna Sadharana Mykattu Rakshit Shetty's film won critical acclaim as well as commercial success.   Grossed somewhere between Rs 12-15 crore. Superhit 
Karva The horror flick struck gold at box office and grossed over Rs 15 crore.  Grossed around Rs 10-11 crore. Superhit 
Dana Kayonu Yogaraj Bhat and Duniya Vijay's movie is declared a decent grosser. - Average Grosser 
Kiragoorina Gayyaligalu Suman Kittur's film with moderate budget peformed well in a couple of centres. Above Rs 10 crore Average Grosser
The figures are approximate and adequately indicative of the box office performance of the films, compiled from various sources. 

Read the first part of the story - Kannada films 2016: Full-year report on Sandalwood's hits at the box office

Also Read