‘Pushpa 2,’ ‘Kalki 2898 AD’ Lead as Indian Box Office Shrinks 3% to $1.37 Billion in 2024

The Indian box office grossed $1.37 billion in 2024, marking a 3% decline from the record-breaking $1.41 billion achieved in 2023, per numbers from Ormax Media.

Despite the dip, 2024 still stands as the second-highest-grossing year in the history of Indian cinema. Leading the year’s collections were the Telugu-language blockbusters “Pushpa 2: The Rule” and “Kalki 2898 AD,” cementing the dominance of South Indian films on the national stage.

Sukumar’s “Pushpa 2: The Rule” emerged as the highest-grossing film of the year, raking in $162.9 million across all language versions, with its Hindi-dubbed release alone contributing $103.2 million. Nag Ashwin’s “Kalki 2898 AD,” a sci-fi epic, followed with $90 million. The numbers reflect the films’ 2024 India grosses only and not worldwide collections.

Hindi-language cinema faced a challenging year, contributing just 40% of the total box office at $543 million), down from a 44% share in 2023. Notably, 31% of Hindi’s revenue came from dubbed versions of South Indian films. Revenues from original Hindi-language films dropped by a steep 37%.

In contrast, South Indian cinema collectively captured a significant 45% of the market. Telugu-language cinema led with a 20% share, generating $272.6 million, including hits like “Devara – Part 1” ($40.2 million). Tamil-language cinema followed with 15% at $212.4 million. Malayalam-language cinema saw the most dramatic growth, doubling its share from 5% in 2023 to 10% in 2024, grossing $135.2 million, driven by hits like “Manjummel Boys” ($18.2 million) and “Aavesham” ($11.7 million). Kannada-language cinema contributed a modest 3%, earning $35.3 million.

Hollywood’s share dropped to 8% from 9% in 2023, as its revenues declined by 17%, amounting to $109.2 million with franchise films like “Mufasa: The Lion King” ($20.7 million) and “Deadpool & Wolverine” ($18.6 million) topping the slate. Smaller industries like Punjabi (2%) and Gujarati (1%) showed limited growth, with Gujarati cinema growing by 66% thanks to hits like “Jhamkudi.”

Indian cinemas recorded 883 million footfalls in 2024, down 6% from the 943 million in 2023. However, the average ticket price rose modestly by 3%, increasing from $1.50 to $1.55, helping to partially offset the decline in attendance.

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