Jawan, Animal's Success ‘Tight Slap’ on Boycott Bollywood's Face, 2023 Was Year of BO ‘Resurrection’

The year 2023 has inarguably been a year of blockbusters. While Pathaan and Jawan grossed Rs 1050.30 crore and Rs 1148.32 crore globally, respectively, Gadar 2 collected Rs 691.08 crore at the worldwide box office. Animal’s domestic nett collection is slowly inching towards Rs 600 crore. Dunki currently stands at Rs 323.77 crore (gross). The makers of Salaar have claimed that the film has crossed Rs 500 crore mark (worldwide) already. Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar and Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani also created ripples at the box office. Mid-budget films like Zara Hatke Zara Bachke, Satyaprem Ki Katha, Dream Girl 2 and 12th Fail turned out to be major money-spinners too.

Turns out, this year has finally put an end to the post-pandemic box office drought. As per Chennai-based trade guru Ramesh Bala, Pathaan, Jawan, Gadar 2 and Animal cumulatively garnered Rs 4000-5000 crore worldwide. Speaking to News18 Showsha exclusively, Bala says ‘Bollywood has bounced back big time’ and credits the end of the lull primarily to massy actioners. “The Hindi film industry along with the exhibitors shouldn’t be having any complaints this year. Stars like Shah Rukh Khan, Ranbir Kapoor, Sunny Deol and Ranveer Singh have delivered,” he states.

Trade analyst Atul Mohan feels the business raked by the Hindi film industry this year is ‘a big tight slap’ for detractors. “People had started saying that Bollywood is finished and that nobody wants to go to the cinemas and there were hashtags like #BoycottBollywood trending. There was a lot of negativity around Hindi films and actors. The industry has made a fantastic comeback,” he exclaims.

Bala emphasises that the South film industries cannot be ignored either as they recorded some big numbers that have eventually contributed to the overall film business. “Salaar is becoming a top grosser in the South. Tamil films Jailer, Leo, Thunivu, Varisu, and Ponniyin Selvan: II, Malayalam film 2018 and Telugu films Salaar, Dasara, and Waltair Veerayya did very well,” he states.

Not just Hindi and South films, the Indian box office witnessed the successes of a couple of Hollywood films too this year. Talking about how the Oppenheimer-Barbie effect tricked down to the domestic market that was already going through ‘a year of insurgence and resurrection in some sense’, film exhibitor Akshaye Rathi asserts, “Oppenheimer and Barbie were the biggest Hollywood films. Oppenheimer made India one of the top five markets for a Hollywood film, which happens very rarely. That was pretty iconic.”

But he’s quick to add that the euphoria surrounding Hollywood releases was just limited to these two biggies and that the second half of the year was a let-downer. “The flow of Hollywood films became very sporadic and static because of the SAG-AFTRA strike. Due to that, the work came to a standstill in the West, and all the films that were meant to be released got pushed. So, 2023 wasn’t that great when it comes to Hollywood films,” he remarks.

The success of Pathaan and Gadar 2 additionally resuscitated several single screens across the nation that were lying dominant post-pandemic. “After the lockdown, many single screens were out of business and when Pathaan was released, there were around 20-25 single screens that got revived. Those who missed the bus during Pathaan got a new life with Gadar 2. Many single screens in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar were revived due to the release of Jawan,” Mohan informs us.

While Mohan and Bala believe that mid-budget films draw in a lot of footfall in both multiplexes and single screens, Rathi has a different opinion. He points out, “The only thing that didn’t happen to the extent we desired was the frequency of mid-segment and low-budget high-concept films doing well. You need more of such films – with actors who aren’t essentially superstars – to release across 52 weeks between 15 tent-pole films a year. Before the pandemic, an Ayushmann Khurrana or a Rajkummar Rao film would do Rs 100 crore at the box office or at least Rs 70-80 crore. But that’s not happening anymore.”

Apart from actioners, romcoms, and family dramas, franchises like OMG 2 and Fukrey 3 worked wonders too. However, the one trend that fell flat this year was remakes. Mohan says, “If you observe closely, except for remakes, all the genres have worked. Selfiee, Shehzada, Bholaa, and even Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan were all remakes and big-budget films but they all fared average.”

Bala, on the other hand, rues the dearth of pan-Indian films this year and he agrees that the release of a handful of them would have been the perfect cherry on the cake. “Apart from Salaar, we didn’t have any pan-Indian films dominate the Hindi belt this year like the way RRR, KGF, Pushpa, and Baahubali did. Having said that, we can’t ignore the huge footfall for films with big stars that offer theatrical experience. And with a film like 12th Fail running in theatres even after 50 days, there’s hope for small movie producers too provided that the content is exceptionally good.”