Box office receipts declined 3.21% from Rs 12,226 crore in 2023, while footfall fell a steeper 6% year-on-year to 883 million, well below the pre-pandemic peak footfall of over 1 billion recorded in 2019, indicating increased dependence on average ticket price (ATP), which went up 3% to reach a historic high of Rs 134.
Kannada and Telugu films saw ATP hikes owing to government cess and premium pricing, while Hollywood and Hindi films recorded the highest ATP of Rs 245 and Rs 203, respectively.
Sanket Kulkarni, head of business development (theatrical) at Ormax, saw the trend of relying on higher ticket prices rather than increased footfalls to drive box office revenue continuing, signalling that cinema-going is increasingly becoming an event-driven activity, rather than a habit, especially for Hindi films.
“Release schedule optimisation, better supply of films, understanding the changing taste of the audiences and strategic utilisation of franchises would be the key for maximising box office collections in 2025,” he said.
Hindi cinema faced a tough year, with collection falling 13% year-on-year to Rs 4,679 crore, reducing its share by four percentage points to 40%. Despite hits such as Pushpa 2: The Rule (Hindi) and Stree 2, only six original Hindi films crossed receipts of Rs 100 crore each, compared to 16 in 2023.Shift in Audience Preferences
Notably, 31% of Hindi cinema’s revenue came from dubbed south Indian films, and collection from original Hindi films fell 37% on-year. Footfall declined 16% to 230 million, significantly below the pre-pandemic levels of more than 300 million.Experts said that despite declining footfall, Indian cinema showed resilience in 2024, with revenue driven largely by a few blockbusters. They highlighted significant growth in regional cinema, suggesting a shift in audience preferences, even as they cautioned that sustaining engagement would remain a key challenge.
“Though there has been a decline in terms of footfall, 2024 has been a year of tentpole movies and amongst them, Pushpa 2 turned out to be the biggest, holding the pole position of the highest grosser in Indian cinema, beating Bahubali 2’s record by collecting Rs 1,200-plus crore,” said Nitin Menon, managing partner of NV Capital. “Though the overall box office collection is similar to 2023’s, the worry is footfall, which is below pre-pandemic levels. High ticket prices, shorter OTT (over-the-top) windows and a lack of good content continue to be large factors in the dipping occupancy levels.”
Karan Taurani, senior vice-president at Elara Capital, said regional film markets continued to thrive, while the Hindi film industry faced challenges. “I wouldn’t be surprised if box office collection drops by 20% in 2025, especially if Hollywood films underperform. The decline in footfall has become a persistent issue and rising average ticket prices are insufficient to offset the losses,” he said.
Regional Touch
Malayalam cinema had its best year yet, with box office revenue surging 104% from the previous year to Rs 1,165 crore, doubling its share to 10%. Footfall increased 88% to 12.6 crore, driven by hits such as Manjummel Boys and Aavesham, which performed well even outside Kerala.
Telugu cinema set a record with Rs 2,348 crore in box office revenue, up 4% from the year ago, though footfall dropped 12% to 213 million. This marked the third consecutive year that Telugu cinema exceeded Rs 2,000 crore, led by Pushpa 2 and Kalki 2898 AD.
Tamil cinema recorded box office receipts of Rs 1,829 crore, a 7% decline but its second-best year overall. Footfall fell below 200 million, though mid-range films gained prominence.
Collectively, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam films accounted for 85% of total box office collection. Apart from Telugu, Malayalam, Gujarati and Bengali, films of all other languages saw a decline.
Gujarati box office revenue swelled 66% to Rs 84 crore, with footfall increasing 57%, led by Jhamkudi. Bengali cinema recorded 4% growth, reaching Rs 68 crore.
Hollywood revenue shrank 17% to Rs 941 crore, falling below Rs 1,000 crore for the first time since 2015, excluding the pandemic-affected years of 2020 and 2021, with footfall down to 38 million.
The biggest hit of the year was Pushpa 2: The Rule, grossing Rs 1,403 crore, including Rs 889 crore from its Hindi version. Other major blockbusters included Kalki 2898 AD (Rs 776 crore), Stree 2 (Rs 698 crore) and Devara – Part 1 (Rs 347 crore).
“Looking at the future, the era of tentpole movies that are looking at hitting the Rs 500 crore mark, whether Hindi or regional, will continue to gather steam and their number will only increase in the future since only these movies, combined with the sleeper hits, can provide the impetus to usher in the footfall that the theatres badly need,” said Menon.
