Bollywood is back, and how!
The Hindi box office, whose very future was being questioned after it delivered a string of flops following one-and-half years of COVID turbulence, has just roared back to life, delivering a record-breaking quarter for India’s largest film exhibitor, PVR Inox.
The company termed the three months ended September “historical”, thanks to an unprecedented influx of customers on the trail of blockbusters such as Jawan and Jailer.
For the company, which operates 1702 movie screens across India, the quarter delivered its highest-ever quarterly revenue and profit.
“We welcomed 4.8 crore guests… earned a total revenue of Rs 2020 crores and made an EBITDA of Rs 447 crores and a PAT of Rs 207 crores.”, the management said. In the same quarter last year, the company generated a revenue of Rs 701 crores and earned an EBITDA of Rs 13 crores.
Key to the performance was the “historic performance delivered by the Hindi box office”, said Ajay Bijli, Managing Director for PVR-INOX.
“Jawan and Gaddar 2 which was released in the quarter emerged as two of the biggest-grossing Hindi movies of all time. Jawan recorded Rs 750 crores at the box office while Gaddaar 2 recorded Rs 600 crores,” he said.
The success was a revalidation of the relevance and appeal of the big screen, which had come to be in doubt after the prolonged drought the sector went through during COVID-19 and the rising popularity of streaming platforms.
In addition to this stellar performance, other big-scale movies such as the Karan Johar directorial Rocky aur Rani Ki Prem Kahani and Akshay Kumar starrer OMG 2 also faired well at the box office. Both these films have collected over Rs 150 crores at the box office while films like Dream Girl 2 and Fukrey 3 came upto the Rs 100 crore mark.
In comparison, Bollywood had seen several big-budget films – such as Brahmastra Part One, and Lal Singh Chaddha– bomb at the box office last year, worrying both industry veterans and moviegoers alike. However, said Bijli, such doubts have been cast aside by last quarter’s performance.
“Volatility in Hindi movie’s performance has reduced considerably with a large improvement in the average collection, particularly of big scale movies which have created a huge impact at the box office”, Ajay Bijli pointed out.
And it was not just limited to Bollywood. Bijli said Hollywood movies started the quarter on a “fantastic note” with much acclaimed movies such as Oppenheimer and Barbie 2 performing exceptionally well.
“Oppenheimer crossed Rs 150 crores at the box office while Mission: Impossible- Dead Reckoning Part One made more than Rs 130 crores. Barbie and Nun 2 also faired well crossing the 50 crores mark at the box office”, the management noted.
Regional movies across languages have demonstrated stable performances while the Rajnikanth starrer Jailer stands out as the highest-crossing regional movie with a collection of more than Rs 390 crores at the box office. The Marathi blockbuster Baipan Bhari Deva became the second-highest regional film with a box office collection of more than Rs 90 crores.
“The growing acceptance and attraction towards regional content is demonstrated in the success of these movies. We are confident that regional movies will continue to do well in the upcoming months.” Ajay Bijli said.
Moving on, the leading multiplex chain expects the excellent performance to continue through the coming months.
“We are optimistic about the robust content lineup we have across all languages”, the management said.