In a year when many big films drove the cinema business with box office collections reaching a new milestone of Rs 12,000 crore, small and medium-budget films topped the profitability chart.
The most profitable film of 2023 turned out to be The Kerala Story which was made on a budget of around Rs 30 crore with earnings of Rs 220-238 crore in the domestic market.
The film has pipped star-led films like Shah Rukh Khan's Pathaan and Jawan in terms of return on investment (ROI). While Pathaan and Jawan recorded strong profits at the Indian box office with lifetime or total collections to the tune of Rs 543 crore and Rs 640 crore, respectively, the films scored lower in profitability due to high budgets of around Rs 250 crore and Rs 300 crore respectively.
The Kerala Story's ROI after deducting collections from the budget is close to 7x at around Rs 208 crore. On the other hand, Jawan and Pathaan made over 100 percent returns despite emerging as the highest-grossing films of 2023.
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In the list of most profitable films of 2023, Sunny Deol-starrer Gadar 2 came in at second position with 6x returns at Rs 450 crore ROI. The film contributed significantly to August's Rs 1,613 crore box office collections, one of the highest-earning months of 2023. The film along with other August releases including Akshay Kumar's OMG 2 and Rajinikanth's Jailer registered bookings of over 3 crore tickets across India which is considered the highest ticket sales in the post-Covid times.
The Kerala Story and Gadar 2 are ahead by a high margin against the rest of the movies that recorded strong returns last year through their theatrical business.
Small to medium-budget films ranked high in the list of most profitable films of 2023, leaving behind many big-budget ventures. Along with Gadar 2 which was made on a budget of around Rs 75 crore and The Kerala Story, 12th Fail, OMG 2 and Fukrey 3 recorded high returns. 12th Fail is last year's sixth most profitable film with a budget of Rs 20 crore and revenue of over Rs 51 crore.
Hindi films dominated the list of most profitable films with a total of eight Bollywood films recording high profitability in 2023 including Ranbir Kapoor's Animal.
Major theatre chains like PVR Inox note that Bollywood's success in 2023 was driven by a mix of big and mid-scale films. Hindi film segment is expected to contribute around Rs 5,000 crore to the total box office business.
In 2022, the total box office collection stood at Rs 10,637 crore while Bollywood's share had declined by around 27 percent from 2019 to Rs 3,513 crore, according to Group M-Ormax 2022 report.
Also read: After a dismal start to festive season, theatres bank on Salman Khan's Tiger 3 for Diwali bonanza
Hollywood ventures too made it to the list. Christopher Nolan's Oppenheimer emerged as the third most profitable film with an ROI of Rs 84 crore with 186 percent returns at the Indian box office. Three English language films including Fast X from the Fast and Furious franchise and Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning Part One recorded high returns.
However, analysts expect a sharp reduction in the number of Hollywood films in 2024, due to the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike which went on for months. The less number of Hollywood releases is likely to affect
occupancy levels and is estimated to be around 25 percent in FY24, according to experts.
Less number of big Hindi film releases is also expected to affect occupancy levels this year in the first six months as large-budget films now contribute 80-85 percent to the Hindi box office business.
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