India box office closes H1 2023 at just below Rs 5,000 cr: Ormax Media

The first half of 2023 closes at just below the Rs 5,000 crore gross mark at the India box office, with ‘Pathaan’ leading the way as the top film of the year so far, as per Ormax Media’s ‘The India Box Office Report: Jan-Jun 2023’.

The India Box Office Report tracks the performance of the various films released every month at the Indian (domestic) box office. As per the report, the box office crossed the Rs 1,000 crore threshold in June 2023, aided by the strong opening of multi-lingual ‘Adipurush’, and creditable box office performance of ‘Zara Hatke Zara Bachke’ (Hindi), ‘Carry On Jatta 3’ (Punjabi), ‘Baipan Bhaari Deva’ (Marathi) and ‘Maamannan’ (Tamil). This makes June 2023 the second-best month of the year so far at the box office, behind January, which was driven by the exceptional box office performance of ‘Pathaan’.

The cumulative box office for Jan-Jun releases stands at Rs 4,868 crore, which is 15% lower than the same period in 2022. At this rate, 2023 is expected to end at Rs 9,736 crore, which will be 8% lower than the annual 2022 box office of Rs 10,637 crore. However, the second half of 2023 has a strong line-up of films that are expected to perform well, especially ‘Jawan’, ‘Salaar’, and ‘Tiger 3’. This puts the year in good stead to surpass the 2022 gross box office, or at least get very close to it.

The all-time record is held by 2019, which closed at Rs 10,948 crore, followed by 2022, which is the only other year when the Rs 10,000 crore-mark was surpassed. If 2023 crosses that mark, two back-to-back years higher than Rs 10,000 crore will be a definitive confirmation that Indian box office is alive and kicking, even though the kind of films that are delivering may have changed since the pandemic.

Top 10 Films (Jan-Jun 2023)

January release ‘Pathaan’ is the top film in the first half of 2023, with its box office being almost double of the second-highest grosser of the year. ‘Pathaan’ alone has contributed over 13% of the overall collections thus far in the year. ‘Adipurush’, despite multiple controversies, and poor audience likability, takes the second spot, on the strength of its huge opening in Telugu and Hindi markets. ‘Fast X’ is the only Hollywood film to feature in top 10 films list at the end of June 2023.

Key findings:

The cumulative India box office for Jan-Jun releases stands at Rs 4,868 crore (gross), which is 15% lower than the same period in 2022
‘Pathaan’ is the top film in the first half of 2023, contributing over 13% of the overall collections thus for in the year
The share of Hindi language stands at 37%, up from 33% in 2022, while the share of Kannada language has nosedived from 8% to just 2%
Despite the shortfall vis-à-vis 2022, a strong line-up of films in the second half of the year puts 2023 in a good position to cross the annual box office of 2022