After a slow start in the December quarter of FY24 with October recording lower box office collections versus previous months in the festive season, a lot rides on the upcoming releases.
Shah Rukh Khan's Dunki, south superstar Prabhas' Salaar are some of the upcoming releases which are expected to take India box office business to new highs.
The current record of highest box office business is held by 2019 with Rs 10,948 crore. This year the collections are expected to be around Rs 11,545 crore, up by around 5 percent versus pre-Covid level, according to analysis by media consulting firm Ormax. This year the box office business is estimated to be 8 percent higher than 2022 when the collections stood at Rs 10,637 crore.
While Q3 FY24 had a slow start, Salman Khan-starrer Tiger 3 has set the ball rolling for the box office business with its entry in the Rs 200 crore club in a week. The spy venture from the house of Yash Raj Films also became the biggest opener for a Salman Khan-starrer with first day collections at around Rs 42 crore.
Also read: Box office: Tiger 3 is Salman Khan's 7th film in 200 Crore Club
October's box office business stood at Rs 812 crore, lower than September at Rs 1,363 crore.
"This year's Independence Day marked the industry's most successful weekend, driven by compelling content across various film industries. We expected a strong showing over the Diwali weekend, estimating it to reach 80 percent of the collections achieved during the Independence Day weekend," said Devang Sampat, CEO, Cinépolis India.
Films including Gadar 2, OMG 2 and Jailer collectively earned more than Rs 400 crore over a period of four days during the Independence Day weekend.
"Diwali holds special significance for Bollywood, given the festive atmosphere, communal celebrations, and heightened discretionary spending. Post-Covid, Sooryavanshi achieved over Rs 25 crore opening in 2021, despite capacity restrictions in Maharashtra. Unfortunately, movies like Thank God and Ram Setu in the previous year didn't meet customer expectations. With Tiger 3, expectations were high that this Diwali weekend will surpass all post-Covid business," he added.
Analysts expect an improvement over the next two months in occupancy led by release of large budget films like Tiger 3, Animal and Dunki. Occupancy levels in Q3 FY24 is estimated to be in the range of 26-27 percent, leading to a nine month occupancy of around 27 percent for theatre chains like PVR Inox. Hindi box office is slated to move towards pre-Covid levels in Q3 FY24.
Share of Hindi language films improved from 33 percent to 41 percent so far this year. This year Hindi language films including Jawan, Pathaan, Gadar 2 are the top three grossers with collections to the tune of Rs 741 crore, Rs 646, Rs 628 crore respectively. The share of Hindi language films in the India box office business has come closer to pre-Covid levels which was at 44 percent.
Also read: IMAX’s India blockbuster: To surpass 2022 box office numbers, scope for 100 screens
For Tamil language films, Leo starring South superstar Vijay resulted in the share of Tamil language increasing from 16 percent last month to 18 percent currently. Last year the Tamil film segment's share was 16 percent.
Tamil film Leo which released on October 19 emerged as the top grosser last month, contributing almost 50 percent of October's box office business. Leo is the only film from October to enter the list of top 10 grossers of the year.
This year so far, August recorded the highest box office business at Rs 1,613 crore, followed by January at Rs 1,388 crore and September at Rs 1,363 crore. February recorded the lowest business at Rs 396 crore this year.
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