Based on box office collections, 2010 will be remembered as the best year for Hindi movies so far. Around 130 Hindi movies released till the first week of December have managed to generate a record Rs 1,900 crore in net collections at the box office, say trade experts. At this rate, Bollywood is expected to close 2010 with all-time high net collections of over Rs 2,000 crore, at least 20% more than 2009 and the highest in last several years.
Also, an average commercially successful Hindi film this year managed to give 17-20% return on investments for the producers and distributors. However, only a handful of Hindi movies fared well at the box office. The box-office collections are compiled by several trade analysts based on the weekly collections reported from across the country.
Based on the collections, the top six grossers till date cornered over Rs 680 crore this year. These include Rajnikanth?s Robot, Salman Khan?s Dabangg, Katrina Kaif?s Raajneeti, Ajay Devgun?s Golmaal-3, Akshay Kumar?s Housefull and Shah Rukh Khan?s My Name Is Khan. Film pundits are now banking on Akshay Kumar?s Tees Maar Khan to set the cash registers ringing.
Exhibitors like PVR, Inox, Reliance Media, Cinemax too are expected to generate 10-15% increase in revenue for the fiscal 2010-11. Additionally, several exhibitors have announced expansion plans including more screens in 2011.
Experts attributed the success of Hindi movies to a number of reasons including smart marketing, rational movie budgets, and wider releases among others.
?This year also witnessed price corrections as far as Bollywood stars and film projects go. Also, Bollywood became smart in terms of expanding the release of its films to reach wider audience in both multiplexes and single screens within the country,? said Jehill Thakkar, executive director, media and entertainment practice, KPMG.
However, film analysts pointed out that all did not go well with Hindi films this year as several movies failed to enthuse the box office like Raavan, Kites and Guzarish.
?If you take out the collections of films like Robot or Dabangg, Bollywood had a pretty ordinary year. More films failed and the return on investments were abysmal this year,? said Timmy Kandhari, India leader (entertainment & media practice), PwC. ?In last month alone, Bollywood would have lost around Rs 100 crore or so,? he said.
According to a film trade analyst, Robot has generated Rs 240 crore in net collections while Dabangg collected Rs 144 crore. The gross collections minus entertainment tax yields the net collection figures.
Compared to big budget films, small and medium budget films like I Hate Luv Stories, Once Upon A Time in Mumbai, Atithi Tum Kab Jaoge, Well Done Abba, Ishqiya and Love Sex Aur Dhoka among others met with commercial success. ?While there are loads of flop films even this year, there has been a surge in the overall commercially successful films and that has contributed to the success of Bollywood in 2010,? an analyst who tracks film exhibition companies said.