Indian box office numbers touched Rs 4,002 crore within Jan-April 2022, according to the latest report by cinema advertising company Interactive Television Pvt. Ltd (iTV) along with media consulting firm Ormax Media. Titled ‘India is back…at the theatres’, the report highlights the performance of the Indian box office collections from the first few months of 2022. It was also the first time that the monthly average box office stands at more than Rs 1,000 crore. These numbers have been achieved despite the impact of the third wave and 18% of cinemas still being closed since 2019.
Five months into this year and the exhibition industry is seeing very promising numbers in terms of box office collection and consumer footfalls in the theatres, Prasanth Kumar, CEO, GroupM South Asia, said. “Movies have always been India’s favourite source of entertainment and this year looks very optimistic to us in terms of recovery, following two years of slowdown due to covid. This report will help advertisers plan their campaigns appropriately and it will definitely help revive the in-cinema advertising domain which in turn will help recover the previously slowed down economy,” he added.
As per the report, K.G.F: Chapter 2 which is still in theatres, was the best performing film of the quarter, clocked Rs 1,008 crore followed by RRR and The Kashmir Files, with gross collections of Rs 875 crore and Rs 293 crore respectively. The report also sees In-cinema footfalls being recovered compared to 2019 levels.
The report also stated that even though there were no Hollywood blockbusters released in the time, the strong line–up for the rest of the year holds a prospective future for Hollywood in India, with collections crossing 2019 (Gross box office: Rs 1,595 crore). Even the Marathi and Punjabi cinemas’ future looks positive, with four Marathi films crossing the Rs one crore opening weekend collection. Hindi cinema contributed 38% to the box office, and almost 60% of this share comes from Hindi dubbed versions of South Indian films, primarily K.G.F: Chapter 2 and RRR.
According to Ajay Mehta, founder and MD, Interactive Television (iTV), and MD, Kinetic India, the operating capacity of the cinema halls is set to cross the 90% mark by mid-year. “With the return of audience into the cinemas, we are also seeing major advertiser interest picking up on where it was left in 2019. We have already seen more than 350 brands active on cinema and with the festive season, we expect it to go much beyond that. With several big-ticket releases planned across languages for the rest of 2022, we are very optimistic about this year’s in-cinema adex as India comes back to its favourite entertainment hub.”
With this projection, 2022 is expected to be the strongest year ever at the Indian box office. With the resurgence of cinema, the medium is also attracting advertisers from various spectrums of the industry. As per GroupM, around 280 brands advertised their products/services in the opening week of K.G.F: Chapter 2. “Over the last two years, when cinemas were shut due to the pandemic, many analysts were quick to write an obituary of the theatrical medium. The first four months of 2022 have proven how far removed from reality that analysis was. The theatrical medium has not only bounced back, but emerged as stronger than it has been in decades. 2022 will be the biggest box office year till date, and by a good margin too,” Shailesh Kapoor, founder and CEO, Ormax Media, stated.
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