Big banner films could see box office pickings top Rupees 13K crore

Big banner films could see box office pickings top Rupees 13K crore

Cine-goers will have no dearth of choice in the coming year as the Indian film landscape promises to come alive with big-banner movies in both Hindi and regional languages. While 2022 was all about films from the south and 2023 saw the resurgence of Hindi movies, 2024 will be a happy mash-up of movies from Bollywood and the south.

Film exhibitors expect box-office collections to maintain their momentum in 2024 thanks to a wide array of films that are set to hit theatres next year. While 2023 is expected to close at gross collections of Rupees 12,500-12,700 crore, higher than 2019’s Rupees 11,500 crore, 2024 could cross the Rupees 13,000-crore-mark in terms of gross collections, trade experts and exhibitors said. This will be led by a combination of factors, including higher admissions as well as higher ticket prices, given that demand for movies starring A-listers will be high, said experts.

Bollywood, for instance, will have at least six big titles releasing in 2024. These include the Hrithik-Roshan-Deepika-Padukone-starrer ‘Fighter’, ‘Singham Again’ (the third instalment in the Singham franchise), ‘Kalki 2898 AD’, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, Deepika Padukone, Prabhas, and Disha Patani, ‘Merry Christmas’, featuring Katrina Kaif and Vijay Sethupathi, ‘Bade Miyan Chote Miyan’, starring Akshay Kumar and Tiger Shroff, ‘Yodha’, featuring Sidharth Malhotra, ‘The Diplomat’, starring John Abraham and the tentatively-titled Atlee project ‘VD18’, which stars Varun Dhawan.

The big films that will hit theatres from studios in the south include Allu Arjun’s ‘Pushpa 2: The Rule’, Kamal Haasan’s ‘Indian 2’, Suriya’s ‘Kanguva’, Junior NTR’s ‘Devara’, Ram Charan and Kiara Advani’s ‘Game Changer’, Mahesh Babu’s ‘Guntur Kaaram’ and Vikram’s ‘Thangalaan’.

As Amit Kumar Sharma, MD, Miraj Entertainment, which runs the Miraj chain of cinemas across 200 screens in 43 cities, said, “Calendar years 2022 and 2023 saw the Indian film industry adjusting to new preferences and tastes of the post-pandemic viewer. This included having larger-than-life visuals, larger-than-life heroes and franchise-based movies that have strong brand recall. The year 2024 will see this new dynamic being put to the test as Tamil, Telegu and Hindi movies will compete for wider audiences across the country.”

According to Kamal Gianchandani, president of the Multiplex Association of India, 2024 is expected to be a strong year for the box office. “The line-up of films across industries is strong, which means that viewers will have much to choose from. The content is also headlined by big stars and backed by film-makers who understand the tastes of viewers. This should augur well from a business perspective,” he said.

The film industry is riding a wave at the moment, according to Rahul Puri, MD, Mukta Arts, which operates 100 screens under the Mukta A2 Cinemas banner. “And the good part is that film-makers are taking note of viewer interests. Content is being tailor-made to suit these requirements. Film exhibitors are also opening screens across the country to cater to this demand.”

Hollywood, too, will have its fair share of movies in 2024. The second instalment of the 2021 Oscar winning movie ‘Dune’ will release next year. ‘Joker’, which released in 2019, will see its second instalment, ‘Joker: Folie a Deux’, out in theatres next year. The third instalment of ‘Deadpool’ and the fourth instalments of ‘Despicable Me’ and ‘Kung Fu Panda’, as well as ‘Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga’ — the fifth film in the Mad Max franchise — will all hit theatres next year. Other much-anticipated Hollywood films in 2024 will include the prequel to ‘The Lion King’ (called ‘Mufasa: The Lion King’) and spy thriller ‘Argylle’.