Box office: Rs 800 crore haul in August. Gadar 2 alone brings in Rs 482 crore

Gadar 2 lifted the movie exhibition business in August 2023, contributing over Rs 482 crore in cinema ticket sales. (Photo via Instagram/Sunny Deol)

Rs 800 crore in just one month! Unbelievable as it may sound, it has happened. It has been a record haul for Bollywood. Never before has this feat been accomplished in the history of Hindi cinema. And it has happened with just four films coming together and creating hysteria at the box office. The films are Gadar 2, OMG 2, Dream Girl 2 and Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani. While the first three released in August, the last in the list released on July 29, and barring first four-day collections (July 29-31), rest of the moolah was generated in August.

Monthly box-office collections for Bollywood films had simply failed to go past the Rs 400 crore mark in the first seven months of the year. So how did these four films score in August?

Well, Gadar 2 created history, with Rs 482.45 crore coming in post its August 11 release. It's still doing terrific business at the box office in September. Then there was OMG 2 which accumulated Rs 141 crore in August. Since Dream Girl 2 released on August 25, it has collected Rs 67 crore in just one week. As for Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, it collected Rs 52.92 crore during July but has netted Rs 100 crore more in the month of August.

Then in its own little way, Ghoomer too has netted around Rs 10 crore, and though the critically acclaimed film hasn't done well theatrically, it has made this small contribution to round off the August total to a staggering Rs 800 crore.

So what has really changed the sentiments of audiences towards Bollywood films, especially when it all seemed like doomsday between January (Pathaan) and May (The Kerala Story) with only Tu Jhoothi Main Makkar emerging as a commercial success? Well, the fact that audiences had started developing a habit to get back to theaters all over again.

Hollywood movies made a major contribution towards that as well. There were big centuries scored by Oppenheimer (still playing) and Mission: Impossible - Dead Reckoning Part 1. Even Barbie turned out to be a success as it scored a half century. Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, John Wick: 4, The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 bought in moolah as well, as footfalls stayed on to be reasonably steady in theatres month after month.

At its end, Bollywood was making an impact as well. These films were not big successes but then Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan scored a century and Bholaa came close to that. Then there was Adipurush which at least took a start and ended up netting around Rs 135 crore. This was still tad better than 2022 which saw one big disaster after another with only an occasional hit or a superhit.

Thankfully, though, things have turned out for the better now with four back-to-back big successes, something that has never happened before. In fact, the fifth back-to-back success is right there to be grabbed, what with Jawan arriving this Thursday and all set to make a massive impression. The Shah Rukh Khan-starrer has already been pegged as the next 500 Crore Club entrant and given the manner in which the advance booking has kick-started, this feat could well be accomplished in September itself.

All of this is only going to make 2023 as the biggest year ever in the history of Bollywood with the landmark of Rs 5,000 crore now set to be crossed.

Note: All collections as per production and distribution sources