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Box office pins hopes on festive 'hits' as silver screen fails to dazzle

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Mumbai: Box-office collections in India in the first eight months of 2024 are lower compared with the same period last year, due to underperformance of films and lack of big releases in the first half of the year amid the Lok Sabha elections and cricketing events, say industry experts.

According to Ormax Media data, the cumulative box office for January-August 2024 was ₹6,868 crore, a 7.5% fall from a year earlier.

The top 5 grossers were Kalki 2898 AD, Stree 2, Fighter, Hanu-Man and Shaitaan. In the same period last year, collections were powered by Pathaan, Gadar 2, Jailer, Adipurush and The Kerala Story.


According to industry analysts, while the first half of the year was slower, the second half may see strong performances, particularly with highly anticipated releases like Pushpa 2 and Singham 3 slated for release during the festive season.


"The Hindi box-office collections in 2024 will be lower than 2023 since we had three films that did business of ₹500 crore last year. Having said that, it's been a good year for the industry despite the underperformance of some big films and lack of releases due to elections and cricket in the first half," said trade analyst Taran Adarsh. He predicts 2025 to be a blockbuster year for the industry.
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While August recorded the highest box-office collections in 2024 at ₹1,291 crore on the back of Stree 2's strong performance, it was still 20% lower compared with ₹1,610 crore in August 2023.

With gross box-office collections of ₹680 crore, Stree 2 is poised to dethrone Jawan as the highest grossing Hindi film of all time. Jawan's lifetime collection is pegged at ₹734 crore across languages. Kalki 2898 AD is the highest grosser of 2024 so far with collections of ₹774 crore.

Stree 2 was the only film to gross over ₹100 crore in August, capitalising on the extended weekend during the Independence Day week, which is historically a prime release window for films. Driven by Stree 2, Hindi films contributed 40% of the total collections in August, up from 35% in July, Ormax data show. Telugu and Malayalam films, which saw success in the earlier months of the year, have recently experienced a decline, it added.

Karan Taurani, senior vice president at Elara Capital, believes the second half of 2024 will be much better than the same period of last year due to the release of big franchise films like Pushpa 2: The Rule, Singham 3, Bhool Bhulaiya 3 and Baby John, and an impressive Hollywood slate of Venom: The Last Dance, Joker: Folie a Deux, Blitz, Gladiator 2 and The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim.

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