A few days back Ormax Media had released the report Ormax Box Office Report 2023. With gross box office of Rs. 12,226 crores, 2023 became the first-ever year to cross the Rs. 12,000 crore mark at the India box office, surpassing 2019 (Rs. 10,948 crores). Hindi cinema rebounded in a big way with the top four movies being Hindi. Two of them starred Shah Rukh Khan.
Speaking to Medianews4u.com Ormax Media head, business development (Theatrical) Sanket Kulkarni stated, “One of the key drivers for the success of box office in 2023 is the industry’s ability to deliver event films which are a ‘theatre-worthy experience’ – a must for the film to emerge a theatrical success. Moreover, some of the makers also managed to hit the sweet spot by combining the star power of Bollywood actors with the massy story telling of the South directors. Jawan and Animal are great examples of such collaborations.”
“Additionally, Another important trend is the traction and engagement for franchise films across languages. As of today 45% of theatrical box office collection can be attributed to franchises, the same was around 17% in 2019. And the makers are gearing up to capitalise well on this trend by effectively expanding their franchises. Yash Raj Films’ YRF Spy Universe (Pathaan, War, Tiger franchise), Lokesh Cinematic Universe (franchise of Tamil films Kaithi, Vikram and Leo halmed by director Lokesh Kanagaraj) and Animal Park (franchise based on the film Animal) are some of key franchises lined up in coming years.”
In terms of the areas of improvement he noted that footfalls are a strong indicator of the industry’s health. “While the overall footfalls grew by 8% over 2022, the footfalls in 2023 (94.3 Cr.) are still 8.4% less than the footfalls in 2019 (103 Cr.). In the long run, you want more people to keep watching the films in the theatre. 2023’s box office collections are more driven by higher average ticket prices rather than footfalls. In the long run, improvement in the total number of footfalls will be an important step towards growth and stability for the industry.”
For 2024 he stated that the inertia to watch a film in the theatre has reduced, which is a positive sign. But the skew of box office collections to the top 10-15 films will increase. Post pandemic inertia and advent of OTT he noted has led to people becoming more selective on which films to watch in the theatre. So the box office collection is getting more concentrated on the top 10-15 films. “That trend should continue.”
He stated that, as per the current information, while there is no Shah Rukh film slated for release in 2024 there is a huge slate of franchise films that are expected, like Houseful 5, Welcome To The Jungle, Bhool bhulaiyaa 3, Singham Again and Pushpa 2. In terms of Hollywood he noted that 2023 was not the best year. Its share dropped from 12% to 9%. Oppenheimer was the only film to cross the Rs. 150 crores mark. Kannada cinema also witnessed a de-growth from 8% to 3% contribution.
On the movie marketing front he stated that a couple of years back Hindi film campaigns used to be four to six weeks long. But now even for most big films that campaign is shorter and impactful. The trailers are releasing just 7 -10 days before the launch of a film.
“An impactful trailer to drive the first day is more important today than ever. Animal is a great case study in this context. Animal’s trailer managed to increase the Appeal for the campaign by 22%, just little over a week before the release. This eventually increased the films potential first day from 25.9 Cr. to 48.7 Cr. The film eventually went on to open at over Rs. 50 Crores.”
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