Box office sizzles even as footfall fizzles

The pandemic caused a break in the habit of people visiting cinemas, which hit footfall and revenues

- Lata Jha

The Indian movie industry raked in record ticket revenues of ₹12,226 crore in 2023, but the number of people who watched movies in the theatres that year was fewer than before.

The previous box office record was ₹10,948 crore in 2019, according to the report Box Office Report: 2023 from media consulting firm Ormax. Meanwhile, the number of viewers fell from 1.03 billion in 2019 to 943 million in 2023, though the latter was about 6% higher than in 2022.

Experts say a chunky rise in ticket prices has helped bridge the ‘footfall’ gap for the movie industry. Average ticket prices (ATP) grew by 9% over in 2023 over 2022, according to the Ormax report, and are now 22% higher than 2019 levels. Plus, theatre owners say movie makers are not spending enough to promote their movies; so people aren’t coming to the theatres because they don’t know.

The contrast was stark in Hindi films, where footfall fell to 275 million in 2023 from 341 million in 2019, even though box office collections rose to ₹5,380 crore in 2023 from ₹4,831 crore in 2019.