Laapataa Bollywood, regional rebound and a bruised box office; 2024 a mixed bag for cinemas

Allu Arjun in a still from Pushpa 2

Varun Dhawan sang, "Tera dhyan kidhar hai tera hero idhar hai" (turnaround your hero is here) to Ileana D'Cruz in the movie Main Tera Hoon, but the lyrics seem apt for many top star-led films which, despite their star power, could not hold public attention on the big screen.

Lack of success, especially of big Bollywood films, has led to lower box office collection after a record business last year.

Last year (2023) saw Indian films doing their highest-ever business of Rs 12,226 crore. The resurgence of Bollywood saw Hindi films' business surpass Rs 5,000 crore for the first time, with four movies earning more than Rs 500 crore each, including Shah Rukh Khan's Pathaan and Jawan, Sunny Deol's Gadar 2 and Ranbir Kapoor-starrer Animal, taking the total to Rs 5,300 crore, according to estimates from trade experts.

Bleak business

However, this year the business from Hindi films until mid-November reached around Rs 3,500 crore with only one blockbuster - Stree 2 starring Shraddha Kapoor and Rajkumar Rao.

Overall, the India box office business for the first six months was down 7.5 percent versus last year, according to data by media consulting firm Ormax. It added that box office business between January to November is four percent lower than the same period last year. However, some trade analysts expect business to be lower by over 30 percent this year.

Some exhibitors pointed out how 2024 was worse than the pandemic in the first half with footfalls down by 40-50 percent versus the pre-pandemic level. In the first six months of this year, footfalls were 20 percent down versus 2023. This was in addition to the 20 percent decline in footfalls versus the pre-pandemic level.

Theatre owners noted that the biggest issue exhibitors faced post-pandemic,  was that while there were some stupendous successes, they were few and far between, particularly in 2024.

Another concern this year has been an unsteady flow of releases. Top multiplex chain PVR Inox pointed out in its first quarter FY25 investor presentation that there was a 13 percent drop in the number of releases during the quarter with 208 film releases across languages whereas 238 films had released in Q1 FY24. The first quarter of FY25 had also seen a sharp drop in blockbusters at the box office. Releases with more than Rs 100 crore gross box office collection (GBOC) fell to three in the period, from seven in the first quarter of FY24.

PVR Inox had cited general elections as the reason for the dearth of releases. The company had said that the quarter began on a soft note, with April and May getting impacted due to the general elections, which were the second longest in India's history at 44 days and added that the elections prompted many producers to postpone film releases.

Push from Pushpa 2

Amid the bleak business, Allu Arjun's Pushpa 2 which released on December 5 sprung a surprise especially for the Hindi speaking markets where it has set new benchmarks. The film's Hindi version became the first Hindi film to collect Rs 86 crore in a single day. With Rs 31 crore-32 crore, Pushpa 2 (Hindi) despite competition from Varun Dhawan-starrer Baby John, registered the biggest fourth weekend in the history of Hindi cinema, surpassing Stree 2’s Rs 25.01 crore.

According to Ormax estimates, Pushpa 2 has the potential to challenge the Rs 12,226 crore India box office business, an all-time record set last year.

"The cumulative gross box office of the films released in the first 11 months of the year stands at Rs 9,862 crore. With the strong performance of the December release Pushpa 2: The Rule, especially in the Hindi version, this year has surpassed the Rs 10,000 crore mark at the box office. However, whether it will break the record set by 2023 depends on the lifetime run of Pushpa 2: The Rule, and how some of the other big December releases, such as Baby John (Hindi), Mufasa: The Lion King (Hollywood), perform,"the firm said.

Baby John has seen dismal collections post the opening day with collections touching Rs 29 crore in five days.

On the other hand, Hollywood venture Mufasa has fared well with collections to the tune of over Rs 100 crore since its release on December 20.

November also turned out to be a strong period for the cinema business with movies grossing a total of Rs 914 crore at the domestic box office led by Diwali releases like Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 and Singham Again. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 did a business of Rs 305 crore and Singham Again collected Rs 290 crore. November proved to be a strong month for Hindi cinema which contributed to 73 percent to the month’s collections.

Record rerun business

Exhibitors this year were also taken by surprise with re-release of old movies like Tumbbad and Kal Ho Na Ho, among others.

Old content re-released in cinemas drove traffic for India's top multiplex chains this year up to 3-5 percent in a never-seen-before phenomenon. When Kal Ho Na Ho returned to theatres after its first release in 2003, it brought back King of Romance Shah Rukh Khan's old charm on the big screen. In 10 days, the film grossed Rs 3.15 crore, emerging as an undisputed stunner for the industry. The re-released film left many industry executives puzzled when it clocked better occupancy than the latest Hollywood venture Gladiator 2.

Re-releases accounted for around 5 percent of the total footfalls at PVR Inox in 2024. In the second quarter, old films roughly contributed 6 percent of total admissions and 3.5 percent of collections. Almost 13 percent of admissions in September came from older releases.

Amit Sharma, the Managing Director of Miraj Cinemas called 2024 the biggest year of re-releases, contributing 4-5 percent to their total admissions.

For Cinepolis India, re-releases accounted for 3.2 percent of total admissions and 2.2 percent of Box Office revenue in 2024 as of October 31.

Tumbbad, which became the highest grossing among reruns, recorded a gross box office collection (GBOC) of Rs 37.8 crore, while Rockstar garnered Rs 10.5 crore. Laila Majnu registered a GBOC of Rs 9.5 crore.

Regional box office

Movies from down south are expected to report 10-15 percent higher box office business versus last year. The Malayalam industry surpassed expectations with movies like Manjummel Boys, Aavesham. The industry collected Rs 743 crore in the first six months of 2024, exceeding the total collections of 2022 and 2023.

Tamil cinema also stood strong at the box office with movies like Vijay Sethupathi's Maharaja, and Amaran among others performing well at the box office.

However, the Telugu and Kannada film industry did not have a strong year despite movies like Pushpa 2 and Kalki which were originally released in Telugu and dubbed in other languages.

Also, producer and film trade expert, Girish Johar noted there were around 199 Malayalam films released in 2024, out of which only around 26 to 27 were profitable. "These combined costs are around Rs 1,000 crore with an estimated ROI (return on investment) of Rs 300 crore, making a huge loss of Rs 700 crore approximately. Surprisingly, Malayalam cinema started 2024 with a huge bang, things have been downhill since then. Hope 2025 brings a steady profitable flow," he said.

Lineup for 2025

Now, all eyes are on star-led films expected to release next year starting with Akshay Kumar's Sky Force on Republic Day followed by Vicky Kaushal's Chhava, expected to release on February 14.

Salman Khan's Sikandar due to be released on Eid, 2025 is one of the most anticipated movies of 2025.