Thanks to ‘Pathaan’, ‘Adipurush’! India box office closes H1 2023 at Rs 4,868 crore 

The Indian box office closed just below Rs 5,000 crore in January-June 2023, with Shah Rukh Khan’s Pathaan and Prabhas’ Adipurush leading the way as the top grossers of the year so far. Cumulative India box office for January-June releases stands at Rs 4,868 crore in terms of gross box office collections in 2023 so far, 15 per cent lower than the first half of 2022, as per an Ormax report titled ‘The Indian Box Office Report: Jan-Jun 2023’.

Pathaan, which was Shah Rukh Khan’s comeback film after a sabbatical of nearly four years, contributed over 13 per cent of the overall box office collections in 2023 so far. The Shah Rukh Khan-starrer commercial actioner collected Rs 543.09 crore at the domestic box office and Rs 1,050.05 crore overall at the global ticket counters.

Despite all its controversies and poor audience response, Prabhas and Kriti Sanon-starrer Adipurush took the second spot due to strong opening in Hindi and Telugu markets. The Prabhas film collected Rs 287.97 crore at ticket counters in India and Rs 392.70 crore at the global box office.

Fast X, featuring Vin Diesel and Jason Mamoa, was the only Hollywood movie to make it to top box office earners in India so far.

Other contributors are The Kerala Story, Thalapathy Vijay’s Varisu, Mani Ratnam-directorial Ponniyin Selvan-PS2, Chiranjeevi’s Waltair Veerayya, Ranbir Kapoor’s Tu Jhoothi Main Makkar, Ajith’s Thunivu, and Salman Khan and Pooja Hegde-starrer Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan.

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The Indian box office crossed the Rs 1,000 crore-mark in June 2023, due to the strong opening numbers of Adipurush. Besides this, the Vicky Kaushal and Sara Ali Khan-starrer Zara Hatke Zara Bachke and regional films like Carry On Jatta 3 (Punjabi), Baipan Bhaari Deva (Marathi), and Maamannan (Tamil) drove box office numbers in June.

The report states: “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”.

REST OF THE YEAR

At this rate, Indian box office is expected to reach around Rs 9,736 crore by 2023-end, 8 per cent lower than the annual 2022 box office of Rs 10,637 crore. The second half also has a strong lineup of films including Margot Robbie’s Barbie, Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan, Prabhas’ Salaar and Salman Khan’s Tiger 3.

Indian box office business logged an all-time high at Rs 10,948 crore in 2019, followed by 2022 when the Rs 10,000 crore mark was surpassed.

The report noted: “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”.

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