A year ago, in April, the gross box office mop-up was at ₹618 crore, led by the performance of Tamil film Ponniyin Selvan II.
This year, despite Eid, Ugadi and Tamil New Year holidays falling in April, only one film managed to cross Rs 100 crore at the box office, according to the report. Malayalam action-comedy Aavesham was the top grosser, garnering Rs 101 crore.
Two more Malayalam films, Manjummel Boys and Aadujeevitham – The Goat Life, earned more than Rs 100 crore at the box office so far this year. However, the second-highest grosser in April, Hindi action thriller Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, only managed Rs 73 crore, followed by sports drama Maidaan, at Rs 61 crore.
Miraj Entertainment managing director Amit Sharma said, “Elections have kept film releases away post-Eid.”
“Due to this, April has been one of the worst months so far,” said Sharma of Miraj. He also pointed to subpar performances of the two Hindi releases in April and indicated that a dearth of big openings may lead to further deterioration at the box office in May. PVR Inox executive director Sanjeev Bijli expects a surge in moviegoers after the election. “What will change is the robust pipeline. People (will be) back at cinemas because of the supply… the appetite to go out and watch movies has always been there,” he said during the company’s fourth quarter earnings call recently.Cumulative box office collections for January-April are Rs 3,071 crore, on a par with the same period last year.
The top grossers of 2024 till now are Fighter (Rs 243 crore), Hanu-Man (Rs 240 crore), Shaitaan (Rs 179 crore), Manjummel Boys (Rs 170 crore) and Guntur Kaaram (Rs 142 crore).
Hindi films had the highest share of gross domestic collections (36%), followed by Telugu (21%), Malayalam (19%), Tamil (9%) and English (8%).
