From Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Avatar: The Way of Water, Top Gun: Maverick audiences globally this year were treated to a variety of content and story-telling. Back home, the Indian audience too got a chance to see cinema at its best from Pathaan, Drishyam 2, RRR, Ponniyin Selvan: I, among others. As a result after a tumultuous two years, the audience returned to watch cinema on the big screen. “It all depends on the nature of the film. Not all films will be able to generate a footfall in theatres every time, but if it’s large movies like Pathaan or Top Gun: Maverick, it has been able to get its share of eyeballs. Similarly, Drishyam 2 managed to box office collecting rolling due to its strong story-line,” Vikramaditya Motwane, film director, producer and screenwriter, told, BrandWagon Online.
Global box office collection is expected to reach $29 million by the end of 2023, revealed, Gower Street Analytics, a market research firm. Even as the past year has helped in the recovery of the market, it has also faced several challenges. Case in point, with a long lockdown in China, the box office numbers, it ended 2021 nearly $3 billion behind. The year also witnessed the Russian invasion of Ukraine, resulting in the US studio boycott of Russia. The report further stated that exchange rates rollercoaster ultimately reducing the dollar from international markets by $one billion and a release calendar with large gaps exacerbated by a host of titles moving out of 2022.
At home, the number of cinema screens in India further dropped to 9,423 as of 2021, as per data from market research firm Statista. Moreover, the film industry which was valued at Rs 18.3 crore in FY20, reported a drop to Rs 6.1 crore in FY21 and now it has closed FY22 with a 2x jump to Rs 18.2 crore. While Covid has had a role to play, the shutting down of single screens also added to the industry’s woes. Not to mention that the subsequent lockdown too restricted Indian moviegoers from watching movies on television and OTT platforms. “In the last one-two years the nature of the films being released has changed. English and South dubbed films have gained much attention causing dissonance. One needs to understand that the rate of rejection has increased among audiences. Consumers now value their time more than ever, hence it is important to create content where they find value,” Vikram Malhotra, founder and CEO, Abundantia Entertainment, explained.
According to Maximize Market Research, the movie theatres market can be broken into three segments – multiplexes, independent, drive-in, and IMAX. Multiplexes dominated the market share by 50% in 2021. In developing countries like China and India, multiplexes are very popular. In India before Covid around 1,813 films were produced as per Statista. “Audiences will always come in to watch good content and it is that the focus needs to be,” Sanjeev Bijli, executive director, PVR, said in an earlier interview with BrandWagon Online.