Just in the past few years - since I've been making movies, which isn't a very long time - you now have a culture that is fascinated and informed about the box office in a way that sometimes filmmakers weren't even.
Content is now the most import factor that decides a film's success at the box office, so we as filmmakers are all trying different stories.
People will say a movie bombed at the box office but I couldn't care less.
No one in Hollywood really knows what a good idea is before a movie hits the screens. We only know if it's a good idea after it's done.
They thought in terms of: whatever you had that started you at the box office, this was it.
There is no guaranteed formula. And that's one of the interesting things about filmmaking. You could put $115 million in, and it doesn't guarantee success.
A lot of things and a lot of money is involved in a movie. It is very upsetting when a movie doesn't fare well at the box-office.
Stars have no say in the release of a film. There are too many factors involved.
That's the way this business works: if your movies do well at the box office, you will be offered more movies. It doesn't matter if you're a nice guy or you're a prick. If your movies do well, there's a job waiting for you in Hollywood. It's not any more complicated than that.
What counts in Hollywood is box office. It doesn't really matter what people think of you as an actor because, as long as you have been in a movie that has made money, you will always get another job.
It is good that people are experimenting with cinema. They are trying to do serious and soulful cinema but such films don't stay in theatres for over a week. People ultimately go and watch Salman, Shah Rukh and Amir Khan films.
How were the receipts today in Madison Square Garden ?
I think no one really knows for sure what will work at the box office. Even big production houses don't know what will do well and what won't.
Some movies work and some don't.
I am hopeful that Nalvaravu' will be an important movie in my career.
Box office does matter. One cannot ignore it.
On the whole, the politics of moviemaking is something that actors are kind of blissfully ignorant of.
When a movie is about to come out on its initial debut, there are a lot of people involved - the financiers, the studio and the producers and also, many times, the foreign distributors. So it is a time of tremendous pressure and uncertainty.
I believe 'Takkari Donga' didn't do too well. But I had a blast doing the film.
Sometimes there are films like 'Mr. and Mrs. Smith' which turned out better than it deserved to be, but in the case of 'Edge of Tomorrow,' there was just such enthusiasm from fans.
When my first film 'Paruthiveeran' released, I had no time to get excited. It was a worrying time for me. I was anxious to know how it would be accepted.
Success of a film has got nothing to do with whether it's a remake or an original.
You can't repeat the success of any movie.
Over the years, I have realized that there's more to a film's fate than just good acting and a solid script. It needs to be marketed well. It's the package that sells - the songs, action, actors, etc.
Once I am done with the film, I don't worry about how many centres the film has released, what are the BO records, etc. As I have no knowledge of such things, feeling the pressure doesn't arise.
