Taxiwala and Amar Akbar Anthony
Taxiwala and Amar Akbar AnthonyCollage of photos taken from Twitter and Facebook

Amar Akbar Anthony and Taxiwala are the last two big ticket and much-hyped Telugu movies set for release in 2018. But their clash at the box office has raised some concerns over their prospects.

Ravi Teja and Srinu Vaitla have suffered a setback due to back-to-back flops and they are badly in need of a hit. Ileana D'Souza is making her comeback to Tollywood after six years and she also needs hit.

Now, Amar Akbar Anthony is expected to give a much-needed break to all three of them. On the other hand, the success of Taxiwala is crucial for Vijay Devarakonda as his rocking career nose-dived after the failure of Nota.

Amar Akbar Anthony is scheduled for its release in the theatres on November 16, while Taxiwala hits the screens a day later. Both the movie will clash with each other and eat away each other's shares at the box office this week. Now the trade experts in T-Town are keeping their fingers crossed on their prospects. Here are our box office predictions for both the movies.

1. Content

As per its promos, Amar Akbar Anthony deals with a routine story, but it features Ravi Teja in triple roles, which are sure to provide many fresh twists and turns to the plot. The movies are high on mass elements like comedy, dialogues, music, beautiful picturisation and exotic locales. Its trailer shows the film is filled with a lot of thrills and entertainment from the beginning to end and it will be a treat for the family audience.

On the other hand, Taxiwala is a supernatural comedy thriller film and its promos show that it explores a unique and fresh storyline that is filled with a lot of twists, turns, comedy, romances and stunts. They assure that young and talented actor Vijay Devarakonda is coming with another interesting entertainer.

2. Star Power

Ravi Teja is a 65-movie-old actor in the film industry and boasts of a huge fan following in the Telugu states and some other parts of India. On the other hand, Vijay Devarakonda might be just nine films old in the industry. But his career graph has gone up by a notch and his fanbase has grown multifold with each of his releases.

Vijay Devarakonda holds bigger records than mass maharaja Ravi Teja at the box office not just in India, but also in the US and some other key international markets. If you look at the collection figures of two actors' recent releases, Vijay stands taller than Ravi in terms of star power and wider reach of the audience especially in the young lots, who are crucial for the success of a movie in the present times.

3. Cast and Crew

Both the movies have been backed by successful banners. Amar Akbar Anthony is produced by Mythri Movie makers of Srimanthudu, Janatha Garage and Rangasthalam. The film features talented artistes like Ravi Teja, Ileana D'Cruz, Vikramjeet Virk, Sunil, Abhimanyu Singh, Sayaji Shinde, Srinivasa Reddy and Vennela Kishore. The movie also boast of popular names in its technical team.

On the other hand, Taxiwala is jointly bankrolled by GA2 Pictures (of Bale Bale Magadivoy and Geetha Govindam fame) UV Creations (of Bhaagamathie and Saaho fame). The movie features young artistes like Vijay Devarakonda, Priyanka Jawalkar, Malavika Nair, Ravi Prakash, Uttej and Chammak Chandra. Its technical team includes young and newcomers.

4. Promotions

The producers of both the movies have adapted several unique publicity strategies and shelled out hefty sums on them. Their promos have also struck chords with the film goers and registered good response and viewership on the internet. But Amar Akbar Anthony is a notch bigger than Taxiwala in terms of its reach to the number of audience.

Screen Count and Advance Booking

As per newspaper ads, Amar Akbar Anthony will be released in 450 screens in the Telugu states, 100+ screens in Karnataka and other parts of India and nearly 200 screens in the US and other international markets. Its total count stands at 750 screens, which might go up by the end of the day. It has registered over 40 booking and some screens are fast filling in Telugu states, as per BookMyShow.

Taxiwala will be released in nearly 375 screens in the Telugu states, over 175 screens in Karnataka and other parts of India and 200+ in the US and key foreign countries. As of now, its screen count stands at 750 and the number is likely to go as it reaches its release date. When compared to Amar Akbar Anthony, Taxiwala has more advance booking, according to BookMyShow.

Box office prediction:

Since it is released a day ahead of Taxiwala, Amar Akbar Anthony has an advantage of record breaking opening for Ravi Teja. As per above trends, Taxiwala is likely to get a bigger opening than Srinu Vaitla's film. But the word of mouth will decide their collection at the box office on the following days.