The first 6 months of the year 2023 have passed with limited successful films and middling results in terms of box office for the Hindi film industry but the state is certainly better than the last year in terms of collections thanks to SRK's Pathaan leading the pack. The first 6 months of 2022 saw a collection of 920 crores combined from 18 major releases meanwhile this year already has 1,493.35 crores net collection from 15 original Hindi films which were either major releases or collected a respectable amount of money which is a 62.3% gain from last year in terms of films made and shot in Hindi only. The last year saw just 3 films cross the Hit or above tag at the box office in the first six months and the number is exactly the same this year with only Pathaan, The Kerala Story, and Zara Hatke Zara Bachke being very profitable for the makers and the latter two of them being small-to-medium budget films.
The gain in business can be attributed to Pathaan only as that film alone collected 543 crore nett at the Indian box office, also becoming the highest-grossing Hindi film ever both domestically and worldwide, the latter one only excluding a China release. Another factor for the increase in the overall collections for original Hindi films is the lack of competition from South Indian cinema as 2022 had two blockbusters in the form of RRR and KGF: Chapter 2 but this year, not a single film from the four Southern industries could make any mark in the Hindi markets due to a lack of content that appeals to the Hindi-speaking audience as every film that was dubbed for a wide pan-Indian release went unnoticed. 2022 also lacked big-budget event films from Bollywood in the first half while 2023 got two in the form of Pathaan and Adipurush and 3 more films made on a budget of more than 100 crores like Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar, Bholaa, and Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan. The first one was an average fare that struck a chord with a limited section of the audience, collecting 149 crores nett at the Indian box office which is good for a rom-com by today's standards but the film made minimal profits for the makers. A film in a similar zone last year was Jug Jugg Jeeyo which netted 80 crores but that was a smaller film. The other two were theatrical flops despite getting a decent opening due to negative word-of-mouth for Kisi Ka Jaan Kisi Ki Jaan and the remake factor for Bholaa which alienated a section of its target audience. Other big-budget major disasters on which industry hopes were pinned include Adipurush which will struggle to collect 140 crores, Shehzada which stopped at just a little above 30 crores and Selfiee, the less said about this one the better as it could not even collect 20 crores.
With South competition being mostly non-existent, the other industry with a fair share of the market in the Hindi-speaking regions i.e. Hollywood had a fair share of successes in India with Fast X crossing 100 crores nett in the country, Evil Dead Rise collecting over 30 crores on a limited release with no dubbed versions, Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse almost making it to 50 crores nett despite being an animated film, John Wick 4 collecting over 50 crores nett and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol.3 being another 50 crores plus grosser irrespective of the limited following of the franchise in India. The non-English foreign cinema also saw a winner in the form of the Japanese animated film Suzume, which collected over 10 crores despite a very limited release of just 250 screens and cutthroat competition on its opening weekend. All these films were a good bonus for 2K screens in urban areas and showed that international films have made a considerable mark in the country, providing more options for the evolved consumers of today's time.
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Overall, the year so far has shown that audiences have become smart in terms of choosing their films to watch on the big screen as all industries saw major big-budget disasters if rejected by the paying public. The common pattern between all three successes is that 2 out of 3 are original films with no remake factor behind them and the third one i.e. Pathaan belonged to a major big-budget franchise, something that mostly guarantees an initial in the post-pandemic world. We look forward to a better second half for all industries with many exciting films in store which will definitely provide more cinematic value for the audience to visit the cinemas. The first month of the second half which is July has Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning- Part One, Oppenheimer, Barbie and Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani as promising major releases.