According to the Ormax Box Office report 2023, the gross box office in India has crossed the Rs 12,000 crore mark in 2023, surpassing the previous best year 2019 (Rs 10,948 crore) by Rs 1,278 crore. When compared to the gross box office of 2022, a 15% growth has been witnessed. However, the gross box office was lowest in 2020 with Rs 2,056 crore during the forecast period 2015-23.
The report further highlights that Hindi dominates the language box office share with 44%, followed by South, which includes Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada, with 43%. Out of which, Telugu leads with 19%, followed by Tamil with 16% and then Malayalam and Kannada with 5% and 3% respectively. Compared to 2022, Hindi cinema has gained 11% points in share, reaching its pre-pandemic level share (2019). While Tamil and Telugu cinema held on to their 2022 share, Kannada and Hollywood lost 5% and 3% points respectively.
Furthermore, Hindi and Punjabi cinema have grown by more than 50%. Tamil is the only other major language to see double digit growth. After its best-ever year in 2022, Kannada cinema saw a steep decline of 61% in its gross box office in 2023.
Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan topped the list of top 15 films across India with Rs 734 crore gross box office, followed by Ranbir Kapoor’s Animal with Rs 645 crore. Pathaan and Gadar 2 are at third and fourth respectively with Rs 636 crore and Rs 619 crore. Interestingly, family drama Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahani was at bottom in the list with Rs 177 crore gross box office.
Additionally, footfalls grew by six percent in 2023, but were below the pre-pandemic level (2019), indicating that the growth in gross box office in 2023 (15%) was driven more by an increase in average ticket price (ATP) than by a growth in footfalls. The domestic footfall in 2023 stood at 94.3 crore, an increase of 5.1 crore from 2022. When it comes to domestic footfalls, despite 46% growth vis-à-vis 2022, footfalls are below the pre-pandemic mark, with each year in the 2012-2019 period having recorded more footfalls than 2023. The domestic footfall for 2023 stood at 27.5 crore.
The average ticket price in 2023 Rs 130, nine percent over 2022 (Rs 119). The ATP is 22% higher than the pre-pandemic (2019) level, as it was Rs 106 in 2019. Moreover, there has been only a marginal increase in ATP for individual language industries. The overall ATP has increased by nine percent, because of the higher contribution of Hindi cinema, which operates at a higher ATP compared to the South language industries, to the India Box Office.
Interestingly, Hindi cinema surpassed its previous best year 2019 (Rs 4,831 crore) to cross the Rs 5,000 crore mark for the first time. The Hindi gross box office stood at Rs 5,380 crore in 2023. Meanwhile, 2023 witnessed the resurgence of original Hindi language films, with four films crossing the Rs 550 crore gross mark. The contribution of dubbed versions of films from South India dropped from 32% in 2022 to only five percent in 2023. Only Salaar out of the top 10 Hindi films is a dubbed version.