India's box office collects Rs 12,226 crore in 2023: Ormax Media

The top four films of 2023 are Jawan, Animal, Pathaan and Gadar 2, all original Hindi language films.

Ormax Media has released its annual report, titled The Ormax Box Office Report 2023. The report, first introduced in 2016, looks at the Indian box office across languages, highlighting key trends in the theatrical sector.

According to the report, India's 2023 box office sets record at Rs 12,226 crore, surpassing 2019's record of Rs 10,948 crore, marking a 15% growth over 2022.

The 12,000 crore collection indicates a recovery in the Indian film industry in the post-pandemic phase. The cumulative revenues across 2020 and 2021 put together, stood at only ₹5,757 crore and reached Rs 10,637 crore in 2022.

Hindi cinema collected Rs 5,380 crore, crossing the Rs 5,000 crore mark for the first time. Hindi cinema’s box office share (44%) reached the pre-pandemic level of 44%, up from 33% in 2022.

This year, Tamil and Telugu cinemas showed growth of 14% and 6% as compared to 2022 and Punjabi cinema resurged with 60% growth in box office over 2022. Meanwhile, Kannada and Hollywood cinema saw a steep decline of 61% and 7% in gross box office collection in 2023.

More than 1,000 films were released in the year, but the top 10 only made up 40% of the total box office earnings for the year. Jawan (Rs 734 crore) featuring Shah Rukh Khan was the highest-grossing film of 2023, followed by Animal (Rs 645 crore), Pathaan (Rs 636 crore), Gadar-2 (Rs 619 crore), and Salaar: Part 1 - Ceasefire (Rs 512 crore).

The leading four movies of 2023 hail from original Hindi-language productions. This marks a shift from the previous year, where South Indian films dominated the top ten, including K.G.F. Chapter 2, RRR, and Kantara.

In 2023, Salaar: Part 1—Ceasefire, Rajnikanth's Jailer, and Vijay's Leo emerged as the top-grossing South Indian films, each crossing the Rs 400 crore milestone at the Indian box office.

Cinema attendance saw a 6% increase this year over 2022, reaching Rs 94.3 crore, although it fell short of the pre-pandemic peak of Rs 103 crore in 2019. Hollywood footfalls in India fell below the Rs 5 crore mark for the first time since 2014.

The Average Ticket Price (ATP) rose by 9% in 2023, climbing from Rs 119 to Rs 130. This increase was driven by the growing box office contribution from Hindi cinema, known for its higher ATP compared to South-language films.

The data used in this report has been compiled and analysed using information collected from various credible industry sources, such as producers, distributors, exhibitors and trade analysts.