Hollywood films have emerged handsome winners in 2025 outshining mainstream Bollywood films in the Indian box office. And the big hitters have been F1: The Movie, Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning, Jurassic World: Rebirth and the latest, The Conjuring: The Last Rites.

Interestingly, in this smooth ride of Hollywood films in 2025, The US-based Warner Bros. Pictures saw its market share in the India collection jump two times in 2025.

“The right balance of mid-and-small and big films across diverse genres has worked for us,” said Denzil Dias, VP and managing director, India Theatrical, Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of Warner Bros. Pictures.

Till date, in 2025, Hollywood films have collected more than Rs 862 crore in India, half of that for Warner Bros. movies, accounting for 24% in 2024.

“We want to build an audience base. They will come for blockbuster films. But we also want mid-and-small-budget to work in theatres,” said Dias of Warner Bros. Discovery.

Dias stressed that after the pandemic audiences have become selective in their theatrical outings, making filmmaking far more serious and responsible affair. “But the silver lining is that audiences are willing to pay a premium price to watch good films in theatres,” he added.

In 2025, Warner Bros. Pictures films such as F1: The Movie, Final Destination Bloodlines, Superman, Weapons, A Minecraft Movie, Dune: Part Two, Sinners and The Conjuring: Last Rites have performed noticeably well in India, taking the cumulative collection of its films to Rs 432 crore till date.

“For us, film distribution and marketing are not just about releasing films in the right theatres and getting the right number of shows. It is also about releasing films in the right language,” explained Dias. 

“We were clear about releasing Jurassic World: Rebirth in dubbed Hindi version. Today, 40% of our collection in India came from the Hindi dubbed version of the film,” he shared. Universal Pictures, which distributed Jurassic World: Rebirth, has a tie-up with Warner Bros. Picture to distribute films in India.

Two things have worked well for Warner Bros. Pictures. The studio has taken bold calls by backing mid-and-small originals such as Weapons and Companion, which paid off. Another aspect is handling of its franchise films.

“Ultimately only storytelling works and audiences smell a good film promptly. We have nurtured our franchise films. We identified filmmakers who were passionate about our franchise films. So, they made these films like a fan, which worked for these films,” Dias said.

In India, Warner Bros. Pictures has been collaborating with local influencers to review their films in Hindi which helped market their films well and reach a wide audience.

“We must understand what the audience wants. We sensed an opportunity in audiences’ resonance with games-related IPs. That is how the idea of the Minecraft movie germinated,” pointed Dias.

In the coming months, the studio has two distinct releases: One Battle After Another and Bugonia. “Today, even a small film like Bugonia can be an event film if it brings like-minded people into theatres,” explained Dias.

Dias is quite optimistic about the performance of Hollywood films in India in the coming months. “India is a movie-loving country. This is a big positive. It is about being authentic by creating right awareness and good stories. Audiences largely reward such an authentic approach,” he said. 

The last three weeks have been great for the film industry. It all started with Sitaare Zameen Par working at the box office. The following week, F1: The Movie emerged as a surprise hit. Maa underperformed but did pull in a significant audience. Last week's Jurassic World: Rebirth, as expected, scored a sixer. Metro...In Dino had a slow opening but the way it has held on weekdays has been a pleasant surprise.

This week, three major films are up for release, with Superman being the biggest of them. It's not as big a series in India but nevertheless, the character is popular and known among the Indian population. Also, the Western reviews have been very positive. The bookings in India have been encouraging. It'll open less than Jurassic World: Rebirth and more than F1: The Movie. In other words, an opening of Rs. 7-8 crores is expected. If the word of mouth is strong, it can have a weekend of Rs. 25 crores.

Maalik stars Rajkummar Rao in a never-before-seen action avatar. His look has been appreciated but the film has not been able to generate excitement. However, since it's in the massy zone, it'll get a lot of theatres in B and C centres. The makers have provided a discount of Rs. 100 and that should attract more people than expected. It should open at Rs. 2.50-3 crores.

Lastly, Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan stars Vikrant Massey and marks the debut of Shanaya Kapoor. The film looks like a clean love story and rests on an interesting idea. However, though the awareness is there, the buzz is very limited. It is also facing show-sharing issues since there are so many exciting releases around. Even Maalik has gone through this issue.

Aankhon Ki Gustaakhiyan will open at around Rs. 1-2 crores and will have to have a great word of mouth to jump big time.

WILL METRO...IN DINO AND JURASSIC WORLD REBIRTH CONTINUE THE MOMENTUM AT THE BOX OFFICE?

The last two weeks have been favourable for the box office. Sitaare Zameen Par sprang a surprise and is rock steady at the box office. The Aamir Khan-starrer is expected to collect around Rs. 132 crores in 2 weeks. Maa, meanwhile, hasn’t had the best of collections and will emerge as an average grosser. It is poised to collect Rs. 26.50 crores in Week 1.

F1: The Movie, however, can go anywhere. It was superb on the weekends. Usually, such multiplex films don’t see a good jump on Sunday. But this film performed beyond expectations on its third day. If all goes well, its first week earnings will be around Rs. 34-35 crores. A lifetime of Rs. 50 crores is on the cards.

This week will see the release of two major films. Metro...In Dino is the second part to Life In A Metro and is directed by Anurag Basu. It stars Pankaj Tripathi, Konkona Sen Sharma, Aditya Roy Kapur, Sara Ali Khan, Anupam Kher, Neena Gupta, Ali Fazal and Fatima Sana Shaikh. The trailer was okay but the songs got noticed. The feedback is that the tracks are melodious and yet they haven’t become chartbusters. Moreover, it’s a film targeted at multiplexes.

The advance booking opened late and is decent. If the word of mouth reaches the audience faster, it can see a rise in collections from Friday evening. The film will have an opening of around Rs. 4.50-5 crores. A good jump on Saturday is possible, looking at the thumbs up from the critics.

Lastly, Jurassic World: Rebirth will be released. It’s a series that has always worked in India. The last part, Jurassic World: Dominion, opened at Rs. 8.22 crores. Looking at the hype and advance booking, the new installment will earn around Rs. 9.75-10 crores. It will have a good chance to score in the single screens as well.

SITAARE ZAMEEN PAR IS A HIT; WILL MAA, KANNAPPA, F1: THE MOVIE FOLLOW SUIT?

The industry is celebrating as Sitaare Zameen Par has emerged as a big hit. The mood of the industry was sombre on Friday morning as the advance wasn’t satisfactory. The distributors didn’t have any show before 11:00 am as they feared that the morning shows might get cancelled. However, the word of mouth from the press was positive. By evening, it picked up.

As per expectations, it collected Rs. 10.50 crores on Friday. On Saturday, it saw a nearly 100% jump as it earned Rs. 20 crores. This is rare in the post-pandemic era. Also, if a film sees such a dramatic jump on Day 2, the Day 3 jump is minimal. But Sitaare Zameen Par went on and collected Rs. 26.25 crores on Sunday. Thus, it earned Rs. 56.75 crores in 3 days.

On Monday, it dropped to Rs. 8.50 crores which was normal. On Tuesday, it collected the same amount which is another sign that the film is set for a long run. The first week collections will be in the range of Rs. 85-90 crores. It’ll surely jump in the second week and will also surely cross the Rs. 150 crore mark.

Meanwhile, the big release of the week is Maa, starring Kajol in the lead. It is a horror film and there’s a hint that it is connected to the Shaitaan universe. It grabbed attention but the excitement is minimal. Like Sitaare Zameen Par, there seems to be a wait-and-watch strategy for it as well. Unfortunately, the success of Sitaare Zameen Par can affect Maa to some degree. But if Maa’s reports are strong, it shouldn’t be a problem.

Maa will open at Rs. 3-4 crores and then it depends on the weekend jump and strong Monday to help the film achieve success.

As for Kannappa, it stars Akshay Kumar, Prabhas, Mohanlal and others in cameos while the lead role is played by Vishnu Manchu. The subject is enticing but the excitement in Hindi is very limited. It has even got very few shows in the North market. If public reports are positive, it’ll see an increase in shows as it happened with Karthikeya 2, Marco etc.

F1: The Movie, on the other hand, will appeal to the elite audience. There’s a demand to view the film on the big screen, especially IMAX. The reports are strong and hence, it can open at Rs. 3-4 crores, just like Maa.

F1: The Movie is one of those films that has to be seen on the big screen. The characters of the F1 drivers are poles apart and fascinating. That and many other plot points add to the tension and drama. The finale is exhilarating and would lead to excitement in cinemas. On the flipside, it's too long (155 minutes) and stagnates in between. It's good that they haven't dumbed down on dialogues. But most moviegoers are not F1 fans and in some scenes, they might struggle to decipher the dialogues and race-related terms. Lastly, it reminds one of Ford v Ferrari. As a result, the charm of watching a race film is diluted to an extent; also, that was a much better film. Brad Pitt, as always, is effortlessly charming and shines in the emotional scenes. Javier Bardem is apt for the part and performance-wise, he's first-rate. Damson Idris (Joshua Pearce) dominates in places, despite the presence of such big actors. Kerry Condon (Kate) and Sarah Niles (Bernadette; Joshua's mother) are memorable while Tobias Menzies (Peter Banning; investor), Callie Cooke (Jodie), Samson Kayo (Cash; Joshua's manager), Kim Bodnia (Kaspar), Will Merrick (Nickleby) and Abdul Salis (Dodge Dowda) do well. All in all, F1: The Movie is a film made for the big screen. Don't wait for its OTT premiere; this one is worth a movie ticket, especially that of an IMAX screen.

My rating - *** ½ out of 5!