Hollywood finds takers in metros, but smaller towns skip the show

Hollywood appears to be staging a comeback in India after two lackluster years, with F1: The Movie, Superman, Jurassic World: Rebirth, and Mission: Impossible — The Final Reckoning seeing robust box office returns.

- Lata Jha

In many cases, they have even outperformed Indian films.

This uptick follows a period of slowdown caused by Hollywood's writers' and actors' strikes and the underperformance of major superhero films, particularly from the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).

Yet, trade experts warn that the revival is mostly limited to urban audiences, and even blockbuster titles are not achieving the pre-pandemic box office highs.

Mission: Impossible earned over ₹110 crore in India since its May release, while Jurassic World crossed the ₹82 crore mark. The biggest surprise, however, has been Brad Pitt's sports drama F1, which collected over ₹72 crore—despite limited dubbed releases and minimal promotion.

Hollywood's share of India's theatrical revenue peaked at ₹1,595 crore in 2019, according to media consultancy Ormax. But Covid hit collections hard, which dropped to ₹941 crore in 2024, reducing its market share from 15% to 8%.