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Karan Taurani, a media strategist, said, “In this quarter, the Hindi box office has declined by 20 percent versus the last year. I think this is one of the first few quarters where medium budget films have shown some kind of respite. 3-4 films have reported better collections than the historical averages in the last two years of how medium-budget content has kind of not done well at all. The comedy genre has picked up well this genre. Apart from action, we have seen drama-led films also do well. Differentiated genre films have worked, including horror like Satan and comedies. In the last two years, the contribution of large-budget films has been 85-90%. I think in this quarter, it has come down to 65-70%, which is good news for the industry because the performance has kind of scattered. It is not heavily dependent on large-budget films. Of course, this has also been led because of discounted ticket prices and other promotional offers. You can’t ignore this fact. Nonetheless, there’s some respite in this quarter.”
The Pathan factor
Most trade pundits feel it was ‘Pathaan’ that made all the difference in the first quarter of 2024. Trade analyst Taran Adarsh said, “We didn’t have a Pathaan, so the first quarter has not looked as interesting as it should have been this year.”
Trade analyst Komal Nahta added and said, “This quarter did not belong to Hollywood nor Bollywood, and last year it was Pathaan that was the game-changer for the industry.”
The disappointments
The biggest disappoints were ‘Main Hoon Atal’, ‘Fighter’, and ‘Merry Christmas’, and all three were directed by successful filmmakers, and expectations were huge. Trade analyst Girish Wankhede said, “While smaller films surprised us, big films like Merry Christmas, Yodha, Fighter, and Swatantrya Veer Savarkar have not really been appreciated with numbers by the audience.”
Shah Rukh Khan's sister Shehnaz Lalarukh Khan covers face upon being photographed in Mumbai
Taran Adarsh adds, “Fighter didn’t do as well for Siddharth Anand as his last two films War and Pathaan were blockbusters and this film fell below expectation.” It was a big release for Hrithik Roshan and Siddharth Anand, and Komal Nahta said, “Fighter disappointed as it was a big film with huge expectations and it did not live up to that.”
The surprises
There were two big surprises in the first quarter of 2023, ‘Laapataa Ladies’ and ‘Article 370’, which were headlined by heroines in a way. Wankhede said, “The smaller films which were loved by critics were Laapataa Ladies and Article 370. These films were appreciated for their meaningful content and did considerably decent business.’’ Meanwhile, Vikramaditya Motwane observed that at an event recently the audience for indie cinema has stopped visiting the cinema halls.
The acceptance
Ajay Devgn and R. Madhavan's film 'Shaitaan', Critic I say and Shahid Kapoor’s ‘Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiyaa’ were accepted by the audience. While Komal Nahta feels that the first quarter did not really have a huge superhit but agrees that ‘Shaitan’ did well. Akshaye Rathi said, “Shaitaan in a way surprised and broke the glass ceiling in a way in terms of numbers.”
“Shahid Kapoor’s Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiyaa has done decent business said,” Taran Adarsh. Wankhede observes, “Shaitan is doing extremely well at the box office and Shahid Kapoor has made Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiyaa a sleeper hit with his energy and dance moves and music played a big role for the film. Madhavan was one of the stars who hogged the limelight irrespective of his small screen time, but a very impactful characterization of a villain.”
Star of the quarter
Most of the trade pundits feel that it didn’t really belong to anyone. Adarsh felt it didn’t really belong to Ajay Devgn or anyone else but Wankhede felt it was Ajay Devgn who should get the credit for the quarter.
The closing of the quarter
Akshaye Rathi said, “The closing quarter Looks quite exciting with ‘Crew‘ and ‘Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire’ closing the quarter in a good manner, this is only warming up to the year.”
Ekta Kapoor's 'Crew' features Tabu, Kriti Sanon, and Kareena Kapoor and is looking quite interesting. So, the overall first quarter is a mix of hits and misses, where there were more misses and fewer hits. Possibly, the coming quarter may bring more glitter and moolah to this segment.”
Hollywood films this quarter
Hollywood didn’t have some blockbuster releases but performed decent business, said Komal Nahta. Girish Wankhede adds, “Jason Statham’s ‘The Beekeeper’ is doing good business, then ‘Dune 2’ and ‘Kung Fu Panda 4’ have done well. The films that disappointed were Madame Web, which was released in February, then Ghostbusters Frozen Empire, and Turning Red. The last week of March will see Godzilla X Kong: The New Empire’ which looks huge and will definitely draw a big crowd in the same way.”
But Taurani feels that not much has happened on the Hollywood front. He said, “We have seen Dune Part 2, Kung Fu Panda, and now Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire releasing. But nothing big in terms of box office. I think Hollywood will remain muted for the next six months because of the WGA’s strikes, all the films have been postponed. Most of the large franchise films will be released after September-October. Dune Part 2 was appealing to a very niche audience. There was an absence of films such as Marvel franchise films. And this absence will remain in the next quarter as well. The backlog of content should be resolved over the next six months.”
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