Stree 2, Pushpa 2 Save ‘A Khan-Less Year’ At Box Office? Film Experts Say ‘2024 Was Disappointing’ | Exclusive

Last Updated:December 28, 2024, 05:00 IST

Trade analysts call 2024 a year of ‘disappointments’. Was the bar set by Jawan, Pathaan, Gadar 2, Animal in 2023 too high to reach?

2024 has been a year of unexpected hits and misses. Having grossed more than Rs 800 crore at the global box office, Stree 2 defied every norm in the book and emerged as the highest Bollywood earner. And then came another sequel, Allu Arjun’s pan-Indian actioner Pushpa 2: The Rule, that wreaked havoc at the box office. In its fourth week, despite multiple controversies, it crossed Rs 1700 crores and has become the biggest Indian film of all times. Other biggies that had all the ingredients of becoming massive money spinners and starred some of the biggest names of showbiz, however, failed to set the ticket counters ringing.

As the year comes to an end, News18 Showsha exclusively speaks to trade gurus, who weigh in their opinions and analyses of films released and the business they garnered.

2023 versus 2024

Producer and film business expert Girish Johar explains, “If we compare this year with that of 2023, I’ll have to say that this year has been disappointing. We’re 15-18% behind vis-à-vis 2023 as far as the business in the Hindi market goes.” According to trade analyst Atul Mohan, the high bar set by Jawan, Pathaan, Gadar 2 and Animal last year made it impossible for history to repeat itself.

“2023 was one of the landmark years post-Covid. We bounced back and how! Nobody could’ve imagined witnessing four back-to-back blockbusters crossing Rs 500 crore in a single year. They contributed to 60% of the overall box office collections of 2023. This year, we only had one Hindi film crossing that landmark figure, which was Stree 2. Compared to 2023, we’re lagging behind by 35-40% in terms of the revenues earned,” he points out.

A year of ‘disappointments’

Even the likes of Ajay Devgn and Akshay Kumar failed to bring in big footfalls in theatres. “Pushpa 2 has done exceedingly well and it’s still going strong but by and large, the situation hasn’t been too good. Expectations were high from big films like Fighter, Singham Again and Bade Miyan Chote Miyan and they could’ve fared much better. I wish the smaller films had also cracked at the box office like Shaitaan did and emerged as dark horses. If that had happened, we would’ve been in a much more comfortable position,” Johar remarks.

The disparity between the robust advance bookings and the underwhelming lifetime collections of these big-ticket films is something that Mohan is still trying to make sense of. “After Stree 2, there were two-three more films that had excellent presale figures but they ended up grossing only Rs 200 crore. Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 and Singham Again were the only two films in the Rs 300 crore range. Fighter made around Rs 180-190 crore. We had lots of disappointments this year like Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, Sarfira, Maidaan, Auron Mein Kahan Dum Tha, Khel Khel Mein and Vedaa, which are big films. We had expected these films to do a business of at least Rs 150-200 crore each,” he reiterates.

Mid-budget gems

2023 saw a slew of medium-budget films starring the next generation of stars turning into sleeper hits and changing the status quo for domestic box office trends. Case in point: Zara Hatke Zara Bachke, Dream Girl 2 and 12th Fail. And unlike Johar, Mohan believes that 2024 has been able to somewhat repeat that trend. “Munjya was a surprise hit, garnering around Rs 110 crore. Crew clocked around Rs 91-92 crore, Teri Baaton Mein Aisa Uljha Jiya about Rs 70-75 crore, Shaitaan Rs 150 crore and Mr & Mrs Mahi around Rs 40 crore. The cost of making films has increased by leaps and bounds today. These films we’re talking about just about managed to recover their investments and gained very little profit,” he states.

How much nostalgia is too much nostalgia?

2024 washed the millennial film-loving audience with nostalgia as Rockstar, Laila Majnu, Jab We Met, Hum Aapke Hain Kaun and Veer-Zaara, among many years, released in theatres. Interestingly, this time around, Laila Majnu’s four-day collections were higher than its original run. When Rockstar had released back in 2011, it was declared an average hit but its re-release gave way to a never-seen-before euphoria. Talking about it, Johar says, “Even Khosla Ka Ghosla did well. These films kept the machine going and the wheel churning.”

Mohan, however, differs. He opines, “To an extent, one can say that the re-releases filled up the gap. But then, eventually, this trend lost its charms because the makers overdid it. You can’t keep playing on nostalgia. When Karan Arjun re-released, it didn’t do well. The films that re-released during the Kareena Kapoor Khan Film Festival didn’t do well either. The surprise element, however, was Tumbbad that minted about Rs 24-25 crore.”

Indian market and Hollywood films

Here too, disappointment loomed large as some of the biggest releases failed to recreate the frenzy of Barbie and Oppenheimer in India. “By and large, it wasn’t anything extraordinary. Deadpool & Wolverine was the only Hollywood film that stood out. Two big misfires were Joker: Folie à Deux and Mufasa: The Lion King. While the latter is doing very well, it still didn’t match expectations,” rues Johar.

A Khan-less year

While Pushpa 2 created waves across the Hindi-speaking belt, there were hardly any Hindi films that created a similar impact in the southern territory. Chennai-based trade expert Ramesh Bala attributes it to partly one reason. “Only Stree 2 and Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 did well in the multiplexes in south. Usually, films of Shah Rukh Khan, Salman Khan and Aamir Khan perform well here but we didn’t have any of their releases this year. That’s why it has been an average year for Hindi films in south,” he tells us. In a similar vein, Mohan quips, “The Khans were definitely missed at the box office. We had to depend a lot of Ajay Devgn and Akshay Kumar to save the day for us.”

The south dominance

Bala rightly calls Pushpa 2 ‘the biggest success story down south’. And apart from the Allu Arjun starrer, he lauds the ‘smaller films’ for keeping the box office going in Tamil Nadu. “GOAT and Amaran performed well. But last year, we had films like Jailer and Leo, which performed way better than GOAT this year. However, smaller films like Lubber Pandhu, Maharaja and Raayaan did well. Maharaja saw success in China too, making it the first Tamil film to create waves in China,” he says.

Shedding light on the Telugu and the Kannada film industries, he adds, “Kalki: 2898 AD, Hanu-Man and Devara: Part 1 did well in the Telugu film industry but the number of hits has come down this year. In Karnataka, Kichcha Sudeepa’s Max is doing quite well. Upendra’s UI also did reasonably well. It has been a mixed year for them. We didn’t have a Kantara or a KGF. The successes have been very limited.”

The one industry, however, that made quite the noise this year was Malayalam, which stuck to its template and still set a precedent. For the unversed, two Fahadh Faasil films – Aavesham and Premalu – grossed more than Rs 100 crore, worldwide. “Malayalam cinema saw a lot of hits with smaller films like Manjummel Boys, Aavesham, Premalu, Marco, Sookshmadarshini and Kishkindha Kaandam. It continues to be consistent in making quality films with a medium budget. The ROI is certainly more in Malayalam,” he remarks.

And what were the misfires? “Indian 2! There was a lot of expectations surrounding it and it was a sequel to Indian, which had seen pan-Indian success back in 1996. Two legendary people like Kamal Haasan and Shankar came together for Indian 2 and it should’ve performed well. Kanguva was another high-budget film. It had Suriya and there was a lot of expectations from the film but it didn’t leave a mark,” Bala says.