In a recent article, we mentioned how the domestic gross box office collections in 2023 were the highest ever. For the first time, the Rs. 12,000 crore mark was breached and the total earnings from all films across languages was a huge Rs. 12,230 crores. In this special feature, we shall take a look at the domestic footfalls.
As expected, the footfalls were much better than in the last three years. In 2017, for the first time, the footfalls crossed the 100 crore mark, with the final figure closing at 101 crores. The footfalls dropped slightly in 2018 to 94.50 crores. But it jumped to a record 103 crores in 2019.
In 2020, the pandemic resulted in the closure of cinema halls for most parts of the year. Though theatres were allowed to resume operations from October, the fear of going to the theatres was high. This directly affected the footfalls. It plummeted to 22.50 crores. 2021 was slightly better at 42.7 crores.
In 2022, theatres began operations in a full-fledged manner. The fear went away as the number of cases dropped and moviegoers were ready to go back to the theatres. As a result, the footfalls rose to 89.20 crores. And in 2023, it increased to 94.30 crores.
What’s interesting to note is that it has not yet reached the 2018 levels yet but considering the situation post-pandemic, the 2023 figure is encouraging. What also needs to be considered is that though the footfalls are the third highest ever, the box-office earnings last year were the best ever. This shows that the average ticket price (ATP) also increased substantially which helped in the increase in collections.
In 2023, the ATP was Rs. 130. It’s higher than the ATP in 2019, that is, Rs. 106. In the pandemic years, the ticket prices were slashed to lure the audience. The ATP in 2020 and 2021 were Rs. 91 and Rs. 87 respectively. It jumped to Rs. 119 in 2022, which was also a record high and in 2023, even this figure was breached.
Even when it comes to ATP, it differs as per the language. Hollywood films are mainly targeted at the elite crowd and are also released in premium formats like IMAX, 3D, 4DX etc. As a result, the ATP for Hollywood was Rs. 237. Some of the biggest Hindi films, too, were released in these formats and its ATP was Rs. 196. In the Tamil and Telugu-speaking markets, there’s control over ticket prices and there, the audience enjoys films at reasonable prices. The ATP for Telugu and Tamil movies were Rs. 94 and Rs. 89 respectively. Malayalam movie’s ATP was lesser at Rs. 85 while for Kannada, it was more, at Rs. 103.
Domestic Footfalls (in crore)
Year 2015 – 90.3 cr.
Year 2016 – 90.1 cr.
Year 2017 – 101 cr.
Year 2018 – 94.5 cr.
Year 2019 – 103 cr.
Year 2020 – 22.5 cr.
Year 2021 – 42.7 cr.
Year 2022 – 89.2 cr.
Year 2023 – 94.3 cr.
Footfalls grew by 6% in 2023, but were below the pre-pandemic level (2019), indicating that the growth in Gross Box office in 2023 (15%) was driven more by an increase in Average Ticket Price (ATP) than by growth in footfalls
Average Ticket Price (in Rs.)
Year 2015 – Rs. 92
Year 2016 – Rs. 96
Year 2017 – Rs. 95
Year 2018 – Rs. 104
Year 2019 – Rs. 106
Year 2020 – Rs. 91
Year 2021 – Rs. 87
Year 2022 – Rs. 119
Year 2023 – Rs. 130
The Average Ticket Price grew by 9% over 2022 and is now 22% higher than the pre-pandemic (2019) level.
Average Ticket Price by Language for the Year 2023
All India – Rs. 130 (Rs. 119)
Hollywood – Rs. 237 (Rs. 241)
Hindi – Rs. 196 (Rs. 187)
Bengali – Rs. 106 (Rs. 109)
Kannada – Rs. 103 (Rs. 101)
Punjabi – Rs. 102 (Rs. 99)
Marathi – Rs. 99 (Rs. 102)
Telugu – Rs. 94 (Rs. 92)
Tamil – Rs. 89 (Rs. 84)
Gujarati – Rs. 86 (Rs. 87)
Malayalam – Rs. 85 (Rs. 84)
Others – Rs. 75 (Rs. 75)
Figures in brackets indicate the Average Ticket Price for the Year 2022.
While there has been only a marginal increase in Average Ticket Price for individual language industries, the overall Average Ticket Price has increased by 9%, because of higher contribution of Hindi cinema, which operates at higher Average Ticket Price compared to the South language industries, to India box office.
Source: The Ormax Box Office report: 2023
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