The Samantha Akkineni-starrer “Oh! Baby” was released two years ago on this day, and on Monday afternoon the actress took to Instagram to share fond memories of the film’s shoot.
“Two years of #Ohbaby A movie that I will cherish with all my heart. Oh baby will always be that movie I fondly look back at, more so for the people I got to make it with. The laughter on sets, the goof ups, the wholehearted trust and the everlasting friendships.. the little movie with the biggest heart,” wrote Samantha Akkineni.
“Oh! Baby” is a 2019 Telugu fantasy comedy film directed by BV Nandini Reddy. The film is a remake of the 2014 South Korean film “Miss Granny”.
In 2021, Samantha starred in the second season of the Hindi web series “The Family Man”. She played the role of the antagonist Raji, a rebel leader from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Samantha’s upcoming film is a mythological drama “Shaakuntalam” opposite Malayalam actor Dev Mohan. The film revolves around the epic love story of King Dushyanta and Shakuntala.
Earlier in July, we told you how the primary overseas market of Tollywood, accounting to around 70-90% of international box office for industry, was bleeding. As it turns out, the second half of the year wasn’t any better.
The Telugu films earned $20.1 million in the states during the incumbent calendar year (2019). This is 35 percent down from the previous year’s $30.94 million (2018). The second half of the year doesn’t compare that bad in absolute to last year but the expectations were to cover the deficit of first half, with release of Saaho and Syeraa Narasimha Reddy, both of them ending up as huge loss ventures.
There were only 8 films which were able to break even for their investor, with not a single A-tier star film included. F2 was the biggest hit of the year while Syeraa was the biggest grosser. No film was able to clear $2.5mn while just 3 over $2mn. Following is the classifications for the year.
So what went wrong with the market which was growing to become as big as the second biggest territory after Nizam for many films. One case could be made with sub-standard content, but even the well-liked film like Maharshi ended up under $2 million. The simple answer will be greed. It all started in the mid-2010s with absurd distribution rights which were then shifted in high ticket prices. The audience initially came, with the hype of films or high incentives in deals and movie passes. Ever since the decline in deals, the audience stopped paying those high prices as one could simply wait for four weeks and watch the film in home comfort, as after all, money spent 5 premiere visits by a family can get a nice home theatre.
The industry over milked the market and now it is dying. Unless the industry corrects the supply chain with proper rates, the market will do itself, in fact, is doing.
Oh Baby has ended up its run worldwide with a distributor share of 18.10 Cr. The film is a Super Hit and first solo hit for Samantha. Trend of the film is uniform till the end of its run as it did well over the weekends and decent on weekdays. It has collected a gross of 1.02 Million Dollars in USA thus becoming only third female centric film from South India to suprass the Million mark.
Samantha Akkineni’s recent release Oh Baby directed by Nandini Reddy has won much accolades and appreciation for the content and unique message it provided. The film simply says to take life as it comes and enjoy the moment as it is. While Sam’s performance was adored by every audience alike, one cannot forget the stupendous performances given by senior actors Lakshmi and Nata Kireeti Rajendra Prasad in the film.
It is a well-known fact Oh Baby is inspired from a Korean flick Miss Granny which was remade in multiple Asian languages and well admired there are well. But when Nandini Reddy asked these two legendary actors to watch the original to get a feel of it, they rejected the idea. Some of the actors usually prefer to watch the original to understand the film’s vibe but there is a shortcoming with that. There is a danger of unknowingly getting influenced by the original flick and imitate their body language in the remake version. Perhaps this was the reason why Lakshmi told Nandini Reddy in a recent interview that she surrendered completely to the Telugu script and looked at the film as a fresh idea.
Speaking about it, Lakshmi also confessed that it might be an old school thing which she and Rajendra Prasad did not watch the original but preferred to perceive the film as a new script! Interestingly, after Oh Baby, Lakshmi will be seen in many upcoming releases including Nagarjuna’s Manmadhudu-2 and Nani’s Gang Leader. Legendary actors will always remain legendary irrespective of time- is it not?
Telugu films are having a decent run at the US box office. Latest release iSmart Shankar had a so-so first weekend and Samantha’s Oh Baby is nearing the million dollar mark.
iSmart Shankar, starring Ram Pothineni in the lead role, received an OK response from overseas audience as it managed to collect $ 200K in its opening weekend. The commercial potboiler, directed by Puri Jagannadh, started off with $ 52K on premiers and 31K on Thursday. On Friday, the film maintained it hold with $42K. There is a slight uptick on Saturday as it collected $57K. With Sunday’s $ 24K, as of this writing, the film surpassed $ 200K. This is a moderate run for the genre and Puri’s not-so-impressive track record in overseas.
Samantha’s solo hit Oh Baby is still continuing its run at the US box office as it is nearing $ 1M mark. After pulling in $ 700K in first week $ 220K in second week, the film inched closer to the prestigious million dollar mark as it collected another $ 50K in the third weekend. The film has already emerged as a super hit in overseas.
1. Oh Baby : Oh Baby has topped the weekend box office for the second consecutive weekend as it has dominated all other films. Domestic share of the film has crossed 10.5 Cr . The film is a clean hit and first solo hit for Samantha. It is heading for a super hit now. Hit !
2. Ninu Veedani Needanu Nene : The film has a decent weekend with major revenues coming from A centres. It has collected a distributor share of more than 1.50 cr in domestic markets. Crucial test for the film begins today as it will face a new release in the form of ismart Shankar from this thursday itself. Decent !
3. Dorasaani: After a low opening the film has failed to pick up over the weekend and ended up with very low numbers. it has collected a distributor share of 50 lakhs in domestic markets which means it will hardly recover the release expenses like publicity & vpf costs. Huge Disaster !
4. Brochevaarevarura : The film continued its good run in A centres and multiplexes though its almost closing for the film in the remaining centres. It is a clean Hit and a break for Sree Vishnu as it is his first success as a lead hero. Hit !
5. Kalki & ASAA : Kalki & ASSSA shares the fifth spot for the weekend as one film did some business in single screens while the other is limited to plexes. Kalki is a disaster & ASSA is a success.
Samantha Akkineni’s recent offering Oh Baby is a smashing box-office hit. The film even dominated across the multiplexes in its second weekend and added enough numbers on board. The film’s producer Suresh Babu decided to take the film to various platforms and languages. The film is already dubbed into Tamil, Kannada, Bengali languages and the release dates will be finalized soon. Rana Daggubati is holding talks for the Bollywood remake of Oh Baby.
Going with the news, Oh Baby will soon be dubbed into Chinese and will release there. Samantha is now all excited about her Chinese outing. Suresh Babu is holding talks on this currently. The film’s original Miss Granny released in China and won the hearts of the audience. Now its time for Oh Baby to make a splash in China. Nandini Reddy is the director of Oh Baby and Naga Shaurya, Lakshmi played other crucial roles.
Samantha’s solo film Oh Baby is dominating the Tollywood box office in USA despite the release of two new films. The female centric film is collecting decent revenues in the second weekend as Sundeep Kishan’s Ninu Veedani Needanu Nenu and Doorasani failed to attract audience in their opening weekend.
Ninu Veedani Needanu Nenu, which created decent buzz with interesting promos, couldn’t manage to impress the overseas audience. The horror comedy collected a meagre $ 5.8K on its opening day including premiers. Anand Devarakonda’s rustic entertainer Doorasani turned out to be a disappointment in overseas as it collected a paltry $ 2.5K on its first day.
Taking advantage of the poor openings of new releases, Samantha’s Oh Baby surpassed the $ 800K mark by second Saturday. After a promising first week with $ 700K, Oh Baby maintained its decent run by collecting $ 50K and $ 57K on second Friday and Saturday respectively. The film has a good chance to join the million dollar club. Trade circles have already declared the film a hit in overseas market.
Oh Baby has a good first week with a worldwide distributor share of over 11 Cr. After a good weekend the film has held decent on weekdays with a drop of 20 percent day by day. It also got hit by the cricket match on first Tuesday. However the film is a success for now and will emerge as a Hit by the end of second week as it is expected to rake decent revenues from here.
Veteran producer Suresh Babu decided to remake his recent production Oh Baby in Bollywood. His son Rana Daggubati is holding talks with a couple of top filmmakers and Oh Baby was screened specially for them. As per the update, Alia Bhatt is the front-runner for the role of Samantha in the film. Alia Bhatt signed her first-ever Telugu film RRR and will join the shoot this month.
She is occupied with several Hindi films. Suresh Babu and his team felt that Alia Bhatt would do full justice for the role and approached her. An official announcement about the lead actress, director and the production house will be made soon.
Samantha Akkineni is in a happy space with the audience reception of her latest offering Oh Baby which collected good revenues in the first weekend. The film is expected to extend its strong run due to lack of new releases and less competition at box office. Reportedly, Samantha is very impressed with the way Nandini Reddy handled this quirky drama and promised her to do another film.
It is learnt that Nandini Reddy has pitched a thriller subject while working on Oh Baby and piqued the interest of Samantha. Now, Samantha is confident that the lady director can deliver goods once again with her skills and decided to team up soon. It is believed that Samantha has asked her to work on the full script for final narration. If Samantha loves the final draft, she will pool resources for the project besides acting in it.
As Samantha is very eager to do female centric films, this project is likely to materialize very soon.
Oh Baby has crossed half million in the USA before the close of its 4th day and is getting an overwhelming response from USA audience.
It has been running successfully all over USA with 350+ sold out shows and is heading towards Million Dollar.
We are happy to announce that OhBaby will be released in 10 more new locations this week in Oklahoma City OK, Albuquerque NM, Baton Rouge LA, Rogers AR, AZ, CO, Celebration cinemas in MI.
Oh Baby is the funniest ride with joy and emotion, Samantha’s performance has got a huge appreciation among the audiences who have watched the movie and this movie is a must watch and you will be spellbound with Sam’s performance and also Rajendra Prasad, Rao Ramesh, Lakshmi, Teju have superb roles.
Music by Mickey J Meyer has connected really well with the story and after watching movie you will definitely fall in love with all the songs.
Thank You USA Telugu Audience for such an amazing response and we are retaining most of the locations second week along with 10 more new locations.
Oh Baby has a very good first weekend worldwide as the film has collected a distributor share of close to 8 Cr. After a good opening day the film was steady on second day and has shown solid growth on third day ie, Sunday. Collections on Sunday are 50 percent more than opening day as the growth was big in B centres. The film is a Hit overseas with a gross of over 650 thousand dollars. It needs to be seen how the film will trend on weekdays in domestic markets as that will decide the fate of the film.
Lady superstar Samantha Akkineni’s latest offering Oh Baby is having a decent run at the US box office as it collected more than half a million dollars in the first weekend. Hindi version of Arjun Reddy, Kabir Singh is continuing it’s fantastic run and surpassed the $ 2M mark on Sunday.
Oh Baby started off on a promising note with $ 146K from Thursday premiers. Due to good reports, there is a slight uptick of collections on Friday and Saturday as the film collected $ 153K and $ 155K respectively. By Sunday afternoon, the film entered the half a million dollars club. Even though it is not so impressive run given the pre release buzz, Oh Baby did well in the weekend considering its genre and casting. Samantha nailed with her stunning performance in this quirky comedy caper. Nandini Reddy is the director.
Meanwhile, the controversial Bollywood remake film Kabir Singh is continuing it’s strong run in overseas as it crossed the prestigious $ 2M club on Sunday. Despite low ratings, the hard hitting romantic drama has managed to pull in good crowds in the second weekend to extend its dream run. Sandeep Reddy Vanga, who helmed the original, is the director. Shahid Kapoor and Kiara Advani played the lead roles.
Oh Baby has taken good Opening in Telugu States with a distributor share of over 1.35 Cr. This is the highest opening for a solo Samantha starrer as it has beaten U turn which had collected a distributor share of 1.09 Cr. The film is carrying good word of mouth and set for a good weekend.
Samantha’s solo film Oh Baby, which piqued the interest of audience with intriguing promos, opened to decent reports this Friday. Samantha’s effervescence acting and commendable performances by remaining cast have helped the film garner above average reports despite some flaws in narration.
While the domestic openings are ok, the overseas collections are very good for Oh Baby on its first day. The Nandini Reddy directional is off to a promising start as it collected $ 145k from Thursday premiers. As of this writing, the film surpassed the $ 275K mark with Friday’s $130k. This is a very good number considering the genre of the film. Samantha has a good track record in overseas and there is no stiff competition from other Telugu releases. So, trade circles are expecting good numbers in the first weekend.
Oh Baby narrates the story of a old woman who mysteriously goes back to her younger days in quest of joy and happiness. Rao Ramesh, Rajendra Prasad and Naga Shaurya played important roles in this film.
Samantha Akkineni is testing her luck at box office with a female centric film titled as Oh Baby. An official remake of Korean drama Miss Granny, the film’s story revolves around a 70 year old woman who mysteriously finds herself in a 20 year old young girl. Yesteryear actress Lakshmi, Rao Ramesh, Naga Shaurya and Rajendra Prasad are essaying pivotal roles in this fantastical comedy caper.
Oh Baby has piqued the curiosity of audience with entertaining promos. Samantha is upbeat about her performance and hoping that Oh Baby will give her the long awaited solo hit she has been waiting for. Directed by Nandini Reddy, the film is releasing all over today.
Can Samantha deliver at box office without star power ? Let’s find
Story :
Baby ( Lakshmi ) is an adamant old lady who irritates everyone in her family. Baby ( Lakshmi )is forced to leave home due to ill-health of her daughter-in-law. Mysteriously , Baby turns physically young and comes back as New Baby ( Samantha ) who is an energetic girl. Baby’s family think she ran away from the home , but Samantha joins them as tenant of Chanti ( RP ).Rest of the story is about what she does following her family closely
Analysis :
Young , dashing director Nandini Reddy tries her hand on a remake of a korean film Miss Granny this time. Inorder to custom it to Telugu nativity , the director took first 30 minutes to establish the premise. It was boring for that part , things change as soon as Samantha as Young Baby enters the story. Her diction , body language and performance are effortless while she switches between Old lady diction vs young. First half has some genuine laughs but at the end it is an average one. In second half , the story goes for toss and the purpose of Young Samantha’s role is a puzzle.
There was an attempt to make this film a musical by introducing a rock / music band concept in 2nd half but it didn’t work due to lackluster songs.
Sentimental scenes in second half have partially worked. Music by Mickey J Mayer is disappointing except Changu Bhala song. Production values are good.
Rajendra Prasad , Rao Ramesh , Lakshmi all seasoned artists performed well. Mainly Lakshmi
Positives :
Samantha’s performance
Family Oriented Story
Casting
Some fun scenes in 1st half , Few sentiment dialogues in 2nd Half
Negatives :
Very Superficial story
Boring moments in second half
Songs are a setback except ‘ Changu Bhala ‘
Verdict :
‘ Oh Baby ‘ is a mixed bag film which may leave family audience satisfactorly.Samantha entertains audience in few scenes but insipid story , artificial sentiment and poor songs work against the film. As Samantha factor and the long weekend work in favor , this film will do better at the US box-office
Telugu360 Rating 3/5
Release Date : July 5th
Director: B. V. Nandini Reddy
Produced by: D. Suresh Babu; Sunitha Tati
Starring : Samantha AKkineni, Naga Shaurya, Rajendraprasad, Lakshmi
Are you ready to join “Oh baby” funnest Ride? Oh Baby is all set to release on July 4th with premier shows starting as early as 10am in USA. We got “clean U” certificate and is a must watch movie in theaters with your family and friends. Content has been sent to all theaters and shows are confirmed without any delay.
We thank our producers Suresh Babu garu, Sunitha garu, TG Vishwa Prasad garu, Vivek Kuchibotla garu, Kross Pictures for all the support to RedHeart Movies to release in USA.
Oh Baby will be released in some new screens first time ever for any Telugu movie, for sure you all will have best viewing experience and have listed theatres region wise and can see it below. This movie will make you laugh and cry and is a must watch movie of this holiday season with family, kids, friends.
Oh Baby will for sure make you laugh and cry and let’s celebrate and start this independence day holiday long weekend with some fun ride.
1.35 Cr
