Out of 131 films released, less than 20 films brought smile to producers. More than half of the films made into theatres were small budgeted, no star films which haven't recouped 10% of investment. Subramaniapuram may be the biggest motivating factor for debutant directors and producers to invest what they have, which lead to this surge in the number of films.

Making a no star film in Tamil cost around 2.5 crores while, superstar films budget to Rs. 25 to Rs 30 crore. The hit ratio has come down to 14 percent in 2009 against 24 percent in 2006.

The market was affected due to recession and availability of pirated videos. A film is either hit or a flop and noting in between, main reason being the number of releases per week. Now talks are going on to limit the number of releases. Television channels played major role in promoting films.

Super stars, super hits
Suriya's Ayan tops the hit charts in 2009.

Vijay is back in action after his many flops with the success of Vettaikaran.

Brutal Violence
Last year Tamil audience proved their quench for blood has not been satisfied. Started from big hits like Paruthiveeran and later supported by the mega hit Subramaniapuram, the films that more or less followed the pattern and succeeded are

Nadodigal - Directed by Samudrakani gave good returns in terms of investment and was critically appreciated. The racy song Shambo Siva Shambo brought emotion and believable heroism back to screen.
Renigunta by R Panneerselvam is about juvenile criminals. It was appreciated for simplicity in the script.

Hit
Dhanush starrer Padikathavan made money in 2009. Suriyas's Aadhavan Jeyam Ravi's Peranmai are the other winners. Kanthaswami though managed to enter hit chart, this film was the biggest let down of the season.

Passanga was also very well appreciated.

Other noted films are Vennila Kabadi Kuzhu, Masilamani, Siva Manasula Sakthi, Malai Malai.

Hollywood films such as 2012 and Avatar dubbed in Tamil, did good business.

Remakes
Bollywood's A Wednesday got its Tamil avatar with Unnaipol Oruvan and Kanden Kadhalai which was remake of Jab We Met did well at Box office.

Horror
Eeram and Yavarum Nalam are films made at moderate budget but produced fat returns. Yavarum Nalam was also released in Hindi. The script of the film was procured by a Hollywood production house.

Parallel films
Bala's epic Naan Kadavul which discussed the life of beggars and Priyadarshan's Kanchivaram were well appreciated critically.

Expected films but non performers
Vishnuvardhan's Sarvvam and Cheran's Pokkisham didn't do well. Sarvam catered only to high class audience.

Flops
Vijay's Prabhu Deva directed Villu, Vishal's Thoranai, Sarathkumar's 1977, Vijaykanth's Mariyadai, Ameer's Yogi have not made any impressions.