Kollywood moviegoers have witnessed over 200 movies in 2014, of which only a handful have done well at the box office. But the real good sign for the industry is that the Tamil films' market is growing at international circuits and some of the films have done well in some countries.
Let us look at the biggest Tamil hit movies that have done well at overseas centres in the current year.
Rajinikanth's "Lingaa" has emerged as the biggest Tamil hit of 2014 at overseas box office. The movie, so far, has made close to ₹40 crore and is still running successfully at some key centres. It has pushed Vijay's "Kaththi", which made ₹35.50 crore at international box office in the year, to the second place.
There is a huge difference in collections between the top two movies and "Kochadaiiyaan", the third biggest hit of 2014. The motion-capture technology film directed by Rajinikanth's daughter Soundarya Ashwin has earned ₹24 crore from overseas centres.
Vijay's another movie has found a place in the top five Tamil hits of 2014 in overseas with "Jilla" occupying the fourth position. The movie, which was released for the Pongal, has collected ₹21.59 crore. It is followed by Ajith's "Veeram", which is in the fifth place and made ₹19.50 crore from foreign countries.
The afore-mentioned five Tamil movies are the biggest hits in terms of gross collections at overseas box office. However, if the profit part is taken into the account, only "Kaththi" has turned out to be a successful venture for the distributors. Some of the movies in the top-five list have caused huge losses to distributors, who paid hefty amounts to acquire the theatrical rights of different foreign countries.
However, Dhanush's "Velai Illa Pattathari" is in the sixth position raking in approximately ₹19 crore. The profit of the film is said to good considering the low investment. Surya's "Anjaan" has collected ₹18.13 crores but again distributors from various regions have not recovered their investment. Sivakarthikeyan's "Maan Karate" (Approximately ₹10 crore), "Aranmanai" (₹6.91 crore) and "Poojai" (₹6.44 crore) are in the eighth, ninth and tenth positions.
