Pushpa 2 came good for multiplex operator PVR Inox, which posted a profit of Rs 36 crore for the December quarter after two straight quarters of losses. The Telugu language film has completed a 50-day run in cinemas and now its reloaded version, with additional footage, continues to draw audiences.
"Pushpa 2 was the biggest contributor because it made Rs 1,800 crore GBOC (gross box office collection) and a lot of it is a contribution from our chain. So, that (film) has been a game-changer," PVR Inox executive director Sanjeev Bijli told Moneycontrol.
December bloom
December was the biggest month for cinemas in 2024, driven by Pushpa 2, which released on December 5. The film's Hindi dubbed version had raked in over Rs 900 crore, a new record for the highest-grossing Hindi film ever, till December.
"Pushpa 2 contributed about 36 percent to the industry's box office during the (December) quarter. Pushpa 2 contributed about 12 percent to 2024's box office (calendar year). So, that means one movie effectively contributed significantly," said Saurabh Pant, vice president of finance and investor relations, PVR INOX.
The multiplex chain had in excess of one crore admissions for Pushpa 2, he added. “The Hindi dubbed version of Pushpa 2 contributed almost Rs 254 crore. All other versions excluding Hindi, Pushpa 2 contributed about Rs 67 crore to PVR Inox's GBOC during the quarter."
Hindi, Hollywood slump
The December quarter began with strong performances from Tamil and Telugu films. Spillover from Junior NTR's Devara Part-1 and Rajnikanth's Vettaiyan led October's box office, together accounting for almost 25 percent of the month's box office collections.
Their success highlights the growing popularity of South Indian cinema regions. However, underwhelming performance of Hindi and English releases such as Jigra and Joker 2 impacted the overall October box office.
Number of Hindi movie releases declined 41 percent in the third quarter, with 19 films versus 32 during the same period a year ago. Box office collection of Hindi language films dropped 12 percent year-on-year (YoY) to Rs 588.2 crore as compared to Rs 667.7 crore.
In 2024, Bollywood had 16 percent fewer movies, while Hindi films recorded a 36 percent decline in box office contribution, Pant said.
Hindi and Hollywood also pulled down occupancy in the nine-months of FY25 to 23.9 percent from 26.6 percent a year ago due to a drop in the number of films and also partly because of the absence of Bollywood blockbusters.
"This shortfall in Hindi was made up largely by Hindi dubbed. Hindi dubbed is typically regional content that's run in Hindi. So, there was a marked improvement in Hindi dubbed content that increased by more than 500 percent. So, if last year, Hindi dubbed contributed only Rs 230-odd crore, this year it contributed about Rs 1,450 crore," Pant said.
“If you club Hindi and Hindi dubbed, the decline (in contribution to overall India box office) comes to about 12 percent. But only Bollywood movies, the decline at the box office level is sharper at about 36 percent.”
Similar was the case with Hollywood titles. Pant pointed out that last year PVR Inox's business was impacted during the first nine months as fewer English released.
"About 10 percent lower releases happened in 2024 when you compare it to 2023. Its box office decreased by 30 percent. This was primarily because of the lingering impact of the 2023 (writers' strikes), which went on for the first half of 2024," Pant said.
A turnaround
Unlike Bollywood, Hollywood made a comeback in the December quarter with 118 percent increase in Hollywood box office at Rs 141 crore against Rs 64.7 crore in the year-ago period. However, number of titles remained lower at 14 against 16 in the previous year.
Hollywood is coming back with a bang, said Pant. He is also hopeful of Bollywood rebounding, given the strong slate of films this year.
Bollywood's 2025 major releases including Vicky Kaushal's Chaava, releasing next week, followed by Akshay Kumar and Madhavan's Shankara, John Abraham's Diplomat and Salman Khan's Sikandar in March, said Ajay Kumar Bijli, managing director, PVR INOX Ltd, during the company's earnings call.
Other notable titles that will be released this year are Sunny Deol-starrer Jaat, Ajay Devgn's Raid 2, Akshay Kumar's Housefull 5, Hrithik Roshan's War 2, Akshay Kumar, Arshad Warsi-starrer Jolly LLB 3, Ajay Devgn's Son of Sardar 2 and Aamir Khan's Sitare Zameen Par, he said.
Sequels will be the dominant theme, for both Hollywood and Bollywood. "Sequels to successful franchises are what I think will drive box office in the current calendar year," Pant said,
Regional, reruns rule the roost
But at the start of 2025, regional has taken the lead.
"In January, we had four movies that have grossed Rs 100 crore and three of them are Telugu language movies because Sankranti is typically a period when a lot of regional releases happen. We had Game Changer, which has done more than Rs 150 crore, Sankranthiki Vasthunam which, has done more than Rs 200 crore, and Daaku Maharaaj which has done more than Rs 100 crore. Akshay Kumar's Sky Force did over Rs 120 crore," Pant said.
In Q3, too, regional box office collections were up 25 percent at Rs 318.2 crore from Rs 255.1 crore in the year-ago period even though the of releases was down at 133 from 147.
Along with regional, continuing their winning streak were re-runs of old films. "What started as an experiment or more as a need because movies weren't getting released, has now become a full-fledged department with someone heading it in Mumbai. We are very serious about this piece of business. It contributed to about 50 lakh admissions YTD (year-to-date)," Sanjeev Bijli said.
For the December quarter, because of a lot of blockbusters that were planned, the number of re-releases were relatively lower than the previous quarter.
Re-runs contributed about 2 percent to PVR Inox's admissions in the December quarter. "YTD, if you look at December numbers, about 3.7 percent admissions were contributed by re-releases in the first nine months of this fiscal (FY25). In January, we re-released Yeh Jawani Hai Diwani and PVR circuit alone clocked about a million admissions from the film, which was a substantial contribution."
Some of the re-releases Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani made up for some of the big movies which did not perform well like Game Changer, said Ajay Bijli.
"We've been pleasantly surprised that this re-release strategy has really helped us in getting footfalls. But again, the hit success ratio is more towards the losses than the hits, but those hits more than compensate."
Food court launch
Beyond movies, PVR Inox has opened its first food court in Kota, Rajasthan in a the joint venture with Devyani International.
"We launched it (food court) in the last week of December. Our plan is by the end of March 26, we'll open about 12 food courts in different cities. As we go along, we'll open a couple more during the current financial year. But in all, about 12 will come up in another 14-odd months," Pant said.
The food courts will run under the name of Free Junction.
At 9.58 am, the PVR Inox stock was trading at Rs 1,076 on the National Stock Exchange, down 4.04 percent from the previous close.
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