Box office stumbles in first half of 2023. Film collections down 23%

India’s 1.4 billion population loves to watch movies as the country produces around 1,500-2,000 movies a year. But while the love for movies hasn’t faded, consumer habits seem to be changing, following box office collections.

The first half of CY2023 saw domestic ticket sales decline by nearly 23% compared to net earnings for the same period last year.

Viewers want clear stories, interesting characters and VFX and action on the big screen, experts say. If the movies are not long, the content should be exciting.

The January-June period last year had seen action entertainers like ‘RRR’ and ‘KGF2’ at one end and gripping stories like ‘Gangubai Kathiawadi’ and ‘The Kashmir Files’ at the other. There were also sleeper hits like “Bhool Bhulaiyaa 2”.

Those figures appear to be lacking at the box office this year, according to conversations with trade analysts, distributors and exhibitors.

While the calendar year 2023 started on a high note with Shah Rukh Khan starrer ‘Pathaan’ delivering record numbers at the box office (525 crore net Hindi collections), Akshay Kumar’s Kartik Aryan starrer ‘Shehzada’-Starrer ‘Selfiee’ and Ajay Devgn starrer ‘Bholaa’ performed poorly at the box office.

Some of the other Hindi hits this year include “The Kerala Story” (Rs 239 crore) and “Tu Jhoothi ​​Main Makkaar” (Rs 147 crore). Vicky-Kaushal starrer romantic comedy ‘Zara Hatke Zara Bachke’ has been well received at the box office (close to 79-80 crore in collections). And “Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan” starring Salman Khan which released on the occasion of Eid on April 21, collected Rs 111 crore.

Box office collections so far this year they are also 16% lower than the first six months of pre-pandemic 2019.

“The first half of 2023 was mixed, with some Hindi and South films doing well. Hollywood has also contributed to the show,” says Devang Sampat, managing director of multiplex chain Cinepolis India.

Trade expert Komal Nahta says moviegoers are becoming more discerning, which is reflected in the performance of films on the big screen. Movies that don’t live up to the spotlight will quickly suffer a loss of business. Case in point is Prabhas-starrer “Adipurush”, a remake of Ramayana, which released on June 16 after much hype but flopped after the first weekend.

The film’s collections so far stand at Rs 269 crore at the Indian box office, with the Hindi version earning Rs 138 crore and the Telugu version earning Rs 124 crore domestically. The film has been made on a budget of 500 crores.

“Movie lovers today are exposed to a lot of content on over-the-top (OTT) platforms. For them to be excited to enter the theatres, there needs to be strong word of mouth, good teasers, trailers and reviews of a film,” says Shyam Shroff, chairman of Shringar Films, a Mumbai-based film distribution company.

This could explain why films with titles of big stars, especially in Bollywood, have underperformed at the box office. So far, 2023 is mirroring the trend seen in 2022 of movies with big stars going head-to-head. Distributors and exhibitors expect the second half of the year to be better than the first, when the film lineup is likely to be strong in all languages.

Hollywood’s top performers in the first half include Fast X (50 crore), Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (Rs 39 crore), Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania (Rs 33 crore) and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (Rs 29 crore), film experts said.

While key South Indian films include Ponniyin Selvan II, which grossed ₹182 crore domestically. The Tamil version of this film (main language) earned Rs 144 crore, according to trade experts. While Varisu, starring Vijay and Rashmika Mandana, had collections of 178 crores, of which the main language (Tamil) grossed 149 crores.