Hollywood has come as a saviour to the Indian theatre business in July with Oppenheimer, Barbie, and Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, pulling in an estimated total Indian net collection of Rs 230 crore since their release, while the much-awaited resurgence of Hindi content is yet to happen.
In the last 10 weeks, there have been eight big English films, said Amit Sharma, MD of Entertainment at Miraj Group which owns Miraj Cinemas, listing Fast X, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Transformer: Rise of the Beasts, The Flash, Insidious: The Red Door, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Oppenheimer and Barbie.
The last three releases, Mission: Impossible – Dead Reckoning Part One, Oppenheimer and Barbie, raked in an estimated Rs 230 crore as of July 31, according to trade portal Sacnilk. “The contribution of English movies to Miraj Cinemas’ ticket revenues was 35% in July 2023 compared to 15% annually pre-pandemic. This summer belongs to Hollywood,” said Sharma.
But it is one of the worst performing years so far for Bollywood, except for Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Pathaan, he added. Karan Johar-directed multi-starrer Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani (RRKPK) has managed a decent Rs 46 crore in its opening weekend, but it has done only about half the business it could have done pre-pandemic, and comes four weeks after the last Hindi release – Satyaprem Ki Katha on June 30, he pointed out.
“We expect RRKPK’s lifetime box office would be in the range of Rs 100-120 crore if the buzz sustains after a healthy opening. In terms of recent performances, Hindi content remains a laggard as no film has reported a positive surprise since The Kerala Story released 12 weeks ago,” said a report by Elara Capital.
Sleeper hit The Kerala Story has been the exception with its Rs 242 crore India net collection, while the Hindi pipeline looks bleak till Sharukh Khan-starrer Jawan in September.
“The pre-pandemic contribution of Bollywood to theatre ticket revenues on an annualized basis used to be 60-65%. This month, it is only 25%. Hollywood and regional films have taken over. The Marathi film Baipan Bhaari Deva has done phenomenal numbers,” said Sharma.
The cumulative India box office for January-June releases stands at Rs 4,868 crore (gross), which is 15% lower than the same period in 2022, according to a report by consultancy firm Ormax Media. Pathaan is the top film in the first half of 2023, contributing over 13% of the overall collections thus for in the year. Despite the shortfall vis-à-vis 2022, a strong line-up of films in the second half of the year puts 2023 in a good position to cross the annual box office of 2022, the report said.