Cinema faces shrinking sales, new challenges
New Indian ExpressThere may be an occasional boost in box office collections for recent releases like ‘Singham Again’ and ‘Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3’. The figures say it all: Box office collections from January to October this year, dropped 7 per cent to Rs 8,951 crore compared to Rs 9,521 crore for the same 10-month period last year, says a report of Ormax Media. The box office collections for October this year at Rs 994 crore was marginally better than for last October’s Rs812 crore; but it was Tamil films – ‘Amaran’ and ‘Vettaiyan’ – that contributed over 50 percent of the sales. A KPMG report produced for the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry’s annual Jamboree – ‘Frames 2015’ – said the industry’s revenues grew just 0.9 percent from 2013 to 2014. Nearly a decade later, Ernst & Young, which produced the entertainment industry report for ‘Frames 2024’, said theatrical and ancillary revenue for the industry clocked Rs 19,700 crore for calendar 2023.