BOLLYWOOD SCORED BIG IN 2023 <br>

Box-office earnings pegged at Rs. 12k cr as diverse content, innovative marketing help Bollywood
Javed Farooqui & Shradha Sukumaran (THE ECONOMIC TIMES; December 30, 2023)

Mumbai: 2023 has been a golden year for the Indian film industry, in general and for Bollywood in particular, with four Hindi films crossing Rs 500 crore each in box office earnings and the gross box office collections projected to touch a new high of Rs 12,000 crore.

Bollywood's resurgence has been driven by diverse content offerings, innovative marketing, and pent-up demand among audiences for experiencing movies on the big screen notwithstanding the rise of streaming platforms, industry executives and experts said.

While star-studded films like Gadar 2, Pathaan and Animal did send the cash registers ringing, mid-budget films such as 12th Fail and Sam Bahadur have performed reasonably well.

After a challenging 2022, Bollywood delivered four films — Gadar 2, Pathaan, Jawan, and Animal — with box office earnings of over Rs 500 crore. In 2022, the gross box-office collection of Rs 10,637 crore was driven largely by South Indian films KGF - Chapter 2, RRR and Kantara, according to a report of consultancy firm GroupM-Ormax Media. The report said that the box collections of Bollywood films had declined 27% from 2019 to Rs 3,513 crore in 2022.

In 2023, industry executives project the box office collections of Bollywood films to touch Rs 5,000 crore.

PVR Inox executive director Sanjeev Kumar Bijli said Bollywood's growth in 2023 was driven by both blockbusters and mid-scale movies.

"Despite featuring renowned stars with massive fan followings, the success of these movies can be attributed to the resonating content that particularly struck a chord with the young audience," he added.

Bijli said the Indian film industry's box office collection is expected to reach an all-time high of Rs 12,000 crore, driven in part by the strong performances of films like Animal, Salaar and Dunki towards the end of the year.

Cinepolis India chief executive Devang Sampat said the overall box office collections grew by 10–15%, driven equally by Hindi and regional cinema.

"The rekindled audience interest in theatrical experiences can be partly attributed to a burgeoning sense of ‘OTT fatigue’, prompting moviegoers to seek the communal and emotionally rich experiences afforded by the big screen," he added.

While concurring with Sampat's take on OTT fatigue, director Nikkhil Advani said that there is a “post-Covid buoyancy” from audiences that has reflected in a return to cinemas and a waning interest in OTT content.

Larger-than-life movies
Screenwriter Anjum Rajabali feels the obvious conclusion is that spectacle, action and larger-than-life movies have a visceral reaction. "That habit of collective viewing of fans stands strong — you love going to the cinema because there is a seamless, exclusive relationship with your star," Rajabali said.

Yash Raj Films' Pathaan and Tiger 3, which together collected close to Rs 1,500 crore, fall in the larger-than-life category.

Akshaye Widhani, who is the YRF CEO, noted that 2023 has been one of the best years in the company’s five-decade-old history due to the performances of the two movies.

"As an industry, this year we have seen great content reap huge rewards, whether it is Gadar 2, Jawan, or now Animal. The entertainment industry rule book has changed," Widhani said.

Advani, who produced the hit Rani Mukerji-starrer Mrs Chatterjee vs Norway, said star power certainly has a key role to play in the success of films.

“It’s the stars we’ve grown up watching — Shah Rukh Khan, Sunny Deol and Rani — that still have that aura. You can’t deny the ingredients of a mass entertainer like Animal too," he added.

According to Zee Studios CEO Shariq Patel, big stars telling entertaining and emotional stories compelled audiences to throng the theatres in large numbers. He termed it a revenge-viewing phenomenon.

"The foundation of a good movie is a strong emotional story with stardom laced on top of it to deliver the knockout punch," he said.

Zee Studios' Gadar 2 grossed close to Rs 700 crore in global box office collections.

Viacom18 Studios chief operating officer Ajit Andhare said the box office resurgence in 2023 was driven by compelling narratives and star power woven into conversations resonating deeply with the audience.

Viacom18 Studios delivered multiple blockbuster films during the year, including Drishyam 2, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning - Part One, Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani and OMG2, he said. It is gearing up to the release Hrithik Roshan starrer Fighter, which is touted as the first-of-its-kind aerial action film.

Smaller films like 12th Fail and Sam Bahadur were the ones that worked on content and stellar performances. “There’s an earnestness that is missing in today’s cynical world and that connects to us,” said Rajabali.
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Niharika Lal (BOMBAY TIMES; December 30, 2023)

The dawn of 2023 saw serpentine queues outside cinemas as moviegoers flocked to theaters in January to watch Shah Rukh Khan’s return to the big screen after four years, in the titular role of Pathaan. As if that set the mood for the year, the Hindi film industry’s success story at the cinemas continued with Jawan, Gadar 2, OMG 2, Tiger 3 and Animal.

With the audience turnout increasing exponentially with each passing quarter, theatre owners added midnight screenings for many films – Dunki even got a 5.55 am show at a Mumbai theatre. While the success of films down south (RRR, Kantara) had catapulted the post-pandemic Indian film industry to a position of stability, Hindi cinema was written off. Now, with its massive successes in 2023, the Hindi film industry is finally heaving a sigh of relief with over Rs. 11,000 crore in revenue.

2023 EMERGED AS THE BEST-GROSSING YEAR OF ALL TIME IN INDIAN CINEMA
The cumulative box office for Jan-Nov releases stands at Rs. 10,252 crore, which is 5% higher than the same period in 2022. Animal, which released on Dec 1, is not a part of this cumulative number. If we consider Animal’s box office collection at the time of publishing this report, 2023 has crossed the Rs. 11,000 crore mark already, emerging as the best-grossing year of all time in Indian cinema. – Ormax media November report

BOLLYWOOD REIGNED IN CINEMAS IN 2023
Significantly, 2023 also marked the return of the superstars to theatres – Shah Rukh Khan (Jawan, Pathaan, Dunki), Sunny Deol (Gadar 2) and Salman Khan (Tiger 3), which made for historic box-office quarters.

RETURN OF SMALL FILMS TO CINEMAS
Speaking to us on how small-budget movies fared in the theatres this year, Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, Executive Director, PVR INOX Limited, said, “The year 2023 was good not just box-office wise but also because our ‘sleeper hits’ came back. Small-budget movies were not doing well in 2022, and everyone was really bothered. In 2022, those films had disappeared, but they returned. Fukrey 3, 12th Fail, Zara Hatke Zara Bachke, Dream Girl 2 and OMG 2 have all done well.”

THE YEAR OF RE-RELEASES
In 2023, select cinemas across the country re-released several popular films. In February, a lineup of timeless romantic films was released. By the end of the year, DDLJ and Gadar were re-released in theatres. Re-releasing films was a strategy that exhibitors had used to bring back moviegoers after the cinemas reopened in 2020. In observation of the strategy’s success – with moviegoers willing to shell out money to watch a much-loved film in the theatres – re-releases became a regular phenomenon this year.

FILM INDUSTRY WAS ON RECOVERY MODE FROM 2022
As per Ormax media, a consultancy that analyses box office stats, in the backdrop of COVID-19, revenues for Indian cinema overall had shrunk by 85% in 2020, and 65% in 2021. However, the industry recovered in 2022 with a gross box-office collection of Rs. 10,637 crore.

SOUTH DUBS RELEASING IN HINDI INCREASED IN 2022-23
From only six films in 2019, the number of South dubs releasing in Hindi has increased to 23 in 2022, and is certain to go up further in 2023, with the first half already seeing 12 such releases. – Ormax media report

2023, a Blockbuster Year for Film Industry