With the arrival of director Savin SA’s Vaazha 2 on April 2, theatres in Kerala have sprung back to life. The coming-of-age comedy-drama, featuring no film stars in its main cast, has emerged as a bona fide blockbuster and is gearing up to enter the Rs 200 crore club, making it only the fifth Malayalam movie in history to surpass the milestone. For the industry, Vaazha 2’s massive success has been a shot in the arm following an extremely dull three-month period at the start of this year, during which even the most anticipated works failed to leave any impact, and even the one that made some noise at the box office ended up not rising to expectations.
A quick look at the movies that hit the screens during the first quarter of 2026, compared to the corresponding period in the last few years (2021-2025), incontrovertibly proves that the first three months were utterly disappointing for Malayalam cinema this time, with nothing substantial to provide respite. Not just big-ticket films, but even quality small movies have been surprisingly missing during this period, unlike in previous years.
Disappointing January
Although a handful of films were released in theatres in January, only one made waves. The first notable Malayalam release of 2026 was Febin Sidharth’s Nikhila Vimal-starrer Pennu Case. Although the movie was serviceable, it didn’t stand a chance against Akhil Sathyan’s Sarvam Maya, featuring Nivin Pauly and Riya Shibu, which continued the successful run it started towards the end of December well into January.
After almost two weeks, Adhvaith Nayar’s highly anticipated Chatha Pacha arrived. Inspired by WWE-style wrestling, the movie had generated significant pre-release hype as one of the first Malayalam films to explore the theme. What added to the uproar was that production giants like Dharma Productions, Mythri Movie Makers, and Wayfarer Films had acquired theatrical distribution rights for various territories across India. Despite a highly publicised cameo appearance by megastar Mammootty, Chatha Pacha failed to impress the audience and ended up collecting only Rs 33.48 crore worldwide, according to industry tracker Sacnilk.
Roshan Mathew, Arjun Ashokan, Vishak Nair, and Ishan Shoukath in Chatha Pacha. (Credit: Facebook/@reelworldentertainment)
The same week, two more notable Malayalam movies hit the screens, Nadirshah’s Magic Mushrooms and Arun Varma’s Baby Girl. Although Magic Mushrooms was bearable compared to the director’s previous works, Baby Girl turned out to be an absolute abomination, effectively ending Nivin Pauly’s success streak that had started barely four weeks prior with Sarvam Maya.
During the last week of January, Jeethu Joseph released yet another stinker, Valathu Vashathe Kallan, following his widely panned Mirage (2025). Amid so many theatrical disappointments, only Vijesh Panathur’s Prakambanam, released on January 30, stayed afloat. Although the movie wasn’t great, the audience’s love for horror-comedies worked in the Ganapathi-Sagar Surya starrer’s favour, and so did the prolonged absence of any substantial movies. It ended up grossing over Rs 22 crore despite having no major stars in its cast. The only noteworthy movies during this period, Indu Lakshmi’s Appuram and Sreejith S Kumar-Gritto Vincent duo’s Sheshippu, arrived as direct-to-OTT releases.
Heartbreaking February
If January was disappointing, February turned out to be heartbreaking, laying bare the industry and its makers’ poor release planning. Following a flood of releases in December during the Christmas season, January is usually a rather uneventful month for Malayalam cinema. However, February typically sees more releases, as it’s an ideal window before the school annual exams begin in March.
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While notable movies like Narayaneente Moonnaanmakkal, Daveed, Bromance, Painkili, Officer on Duty, Get-Set Baby, and Thadavu hit the screens during this period in 2025, the year before that was far more lively with the arrival of Anweshippin Kandethum, Premalu, Bramayugam, Family, and Manjummel Boys. Films such as Iratta, Romancham, Christopher, Pranaya Vilasam, Ntikkakkakkoru Premandaarnnu, Freedom Fight, Aaraattu, Upacharapoorvam Gunda Jayan, Operation Java, and Drishyam 2 are some of the movies that debuted in February since 2021.
Pennum Porattum marked actor Rajesh Madhavan’s directorial debut. (Credit: Facebook/@STKFrames)
However, 2026 saw the month pass without a single title generating significant buzz. Although Johnpaul George’s Indrans-starrer Aashaan earned good reviews, it couldn’t capitalise on them. Despite extensive promotion, Bhavana’s Anomie failed to impress the audience. At the same time, G Prajith’s Ashakal Aayiram, which marked the on-screen reunion of the father-son duo Jayaram and Kalidas, also left without making much of an impact.
Worse still, all this transpired during the first week of the month. Not only that, but literally every film that landed in theatres in the subsequent weeks was dismal, and people didn’t even realise that so many small movies had come and gone in the days that followed, thanks to abysmal promotions.
The only film to catch the audience’s attention during this period was actor Rajesh Madhavan’s debut directorial venture Pennum Porattum. A highly experimental absurd comedy featuring mostly newcomers, the film didn’t have a long theatrical run but managed to generate a niche fan base. At the same time, despite being a notable director who made hits like 1983, Action Hero Biju, and Poomaram, Abrid Shine’s Spa went unnoticed, also due to poor promotions.
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Rajisha Vijayan in director Krishand’s Masthishka Maranam. (Credit: Facebook/@AjithVinayakaFilms)
February’s sole respite arrived on the penultimate day of the month (27th). Renowned for his out-of-the-box, high-concept movies, Krishand has earned a reputation among cinephiles as a director who always leaves his signature in his works. As a result, expectations were high for Masthishka Maranam. Thanks to appreciable efforts by Ajith Vinayaka Films, which bankrolled it, the movie had already captured the audience’s attention before its release.
Starring Rajisha Vijayan and Niranj Maniyanpilla Raju in the lead roles, the cyberpunk comedy introduced Malayalam cinema to terrains it had never explored before, perhaps thinking they were unachievable. Marking a perfect blend of futurism and retrofuturism, Masthishka Maranam could easily be dubbed one of the bravest experimental Malayalam films in recent times. However, it failed to make an impact in theatres because it was too niche.
Thus, February 2026 went underutilised despite ample space to accommodate more films, as most makers aimed to release their movies in the ongoing summer season.
March: The month of Aadu 3
As usual, the first few weeks of March elapsed without any substantial releases since it’s exam season, and this time it coincided with Ramadan. The only movie to spark discussion was Jithu Satheesan Mangalathu’s Sambhavam Adhyayam Onnu, a feature-length adaptation of the debutant director’s hit short film titled Sambhavam. However, the poor timing of its release prevented the movie from soaring even higher, despite impressing quite a few viewers.
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Eventually, it all boiled down to Midhun Manuel Thomas’s Aadu 3, the third instalment in the eponymous franchise, to revive the ailing Malayalam box office. One of the most anticipated films of the year, it arrived amid significant hype since the makers had already confirmed that the nonsensical comedy would unfold across multiple timelines. With a clean two-week window ahead of it until the release of Drishyam 3 (which was later postponed to May) and Vaazha 2, and with Geetu Mohandas’ Yash-led Toxic’s release being moved from March 19 to June 4, the path seemed clear for Aadu 3 to emerge as a blockbuster, particularly considering the franchise’s massive fan base.
Unfortunately, it opened to mixed to negative reviews. Although the movie had a strong opening and maintained momentum in the initial days, the buzz dipped sooner than expected. Adding to Aadu 3’s woes was director Aditya Dhar’s Ranveer Singh-starrer Dhurandhar: The Revenge, which released alongside it, earning rave reviews.
Although Aadu 3 grossed over Rs 120 crore worldwide, according to Sacnilk, becoming the first Malayalam film of the quarter to cross even the Rs 50 crore mark, the makers’ box-office ambitions were far higher. According to actor Vijay Babu, who co-produced the movie, Aadu 3 was mounted on a budget of approximately Rs 60-65 crore, and hence a worldwide gross of Rs 120 crore may not have been impressive for the makers, particularly since there is another film planned in the franchise. However, with the overall business, they might have reached a comfortable position.
Malayalam cinema wrapped up the first quarter of 2026 with a few more unimpressive movies, including Bhishmar, Prathichaya, and Derby, none of which made a notable impact at the box office.
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What next for Malayalam cinema?
While Vaazha 2 continues its blockbuster run, Bharathanatyam 2 Mohiniyattam has also been earning good reviews but is struggling to stay afloat amid the Vaazha 2 tsunami. With far too many movies gearing up for release in April and May, the most notable being Sharaf U Dheen’s Madhuvidhu, Mammootty and Mohanlal’s Patriot, the Antony Varghese-led Kattalan, Naslen’s Mollywood Times, the Tovino Thomas-Basil Joseph-Vineeth Sreenivasan starrer Athiradi, and the Jeethu Joseph-Mohanlal combo’s Drishyam 3, it’s certain theatres would witness a massive rush going forward.
Although it is the vacation season, the large number of simultaneous releases is sure to affect the overall business of all these films, raising the question of how Malayalam cinema can escape such poor release planning.
