Mumbai: Interactive Television (iTV), an Indian cinema advertising company, a part of GroupM India, along with media consulting firm Ormax Media, today unveiled the ‘India Is Back…At The Theatres’ report. The report explores the performance of the Indian box office collections from the first few months of 2022, after turbulent few years.
According to the ‘India is back…at the theatres’ report, box office numbers reached a whopping INR 4,002 cr within Jan-April 2022, the best–ever performance post covid. It was also the first time that the monthly average box office stands at more than INR 1,000 cr. These milestones have been achieved despite the impact of the third wave and 18% of cinemas still being closed since 2019.
Speaking of movies, K.G.F: Chapter 2, with a collection of INR 1,008 cr so far, as it is still in theatres, was the best performing film of the quarter followed by RRR and The Kashmir Files, with gross collections of INR 875 cr and INR 293 cr respectively. The report also sees In-cinema footfalls being recovered compared to 2019 levels.
The report also stated that even though there were no Hollywood blockbusters released in the time, the strong line–up for the rest of the year, 2022 holds a prospective future for Hollywood in India, with collections crossing 2019 (Gross box office: INR 1,595 cr). Even the Marathi and Punjabi cinemas’ future looks positive, with four Marathi films crossing the INR 1cr opening weekend collection. Hindi cinema contributed 38% to the box office, and almost 60% of this share comes from Hindi dubbed versions of South Indian films, primarily K.G.F: Chapter 2 and RRR.
Prasanth Kumar, CEO, of GroupM South Asia said, “It is good to see the cinemas back on track. Five months into this year and we are seeing very promising numbers in terms of box office collection and consumer footfalls in the theatres. Movies have always been India’s favourite source of entertainment and this year looks very optimistic to us in terms of recovery, following two years of slowdown due to covid. This report will help advertisers plan their campaigns appropriately and it will definitely help revive the in-cinema advertising domain which in turn will help recover the previously slowed down economy.”
Speaking on the report, Ajay Mehta, Founder and MD, Interactive Television (iTV) and MD, Kinetic India said, “With the return of audience into the cinemas, we are also seeing major advertiser interest picking up on where it was left in 2019. We have already seen more than 350 brands active on cinema and with the festive season, we expect it to go much beyond that. The operating capacity of the cinema halls is set to cross the 90% mark by mid-year. With several big-ticket releases planned across languages for the rest of 2022, we are very optimistic about this year’s in cinema adex as India comes back to its favourite entertainment hub.”
With this projection, 2022 is expected to be the strongest year ever at the Indian box office. With the resurgence of cinema, the medium is also attracting advertisers from various spectrums of the industry. As per GroupM, around 280 brands advertised their products/services in the opening week of K.G.F: Chapter 2.
Speaking on the report, Shailesh Kapoor, Founder and CEO, Ormax Media said, “Over the last two years, when cinemas were shut due to the pandemic, many analysts were quick to write an obituary of the theatrical medium. The first four months of 2022 have proven how far removed from reality that analysis was. The theatrical medium has not only bounced back, but emerged as stronger than it has been in decades. 2022 will be the biggest box office year till date, and by a good margin too.”
