Tollywood, or Telugu film industry, enjoyed a comfortable 29 percent box office share in 2020 and 2021, well ahead of Bollywood, which saw its share drop from 44 percent to 27 percent.
In addition, four Telugu films —- Pushpa, Ala Vaikunthapurramuloo, Sarileru Neekevvaru, and Vakeel Saab —- appear in the top 10 films across the two years, but just three Hindi films —- Tanhaji, Sooryavanshi, and 83 —- do. The top 10 box office list is rounded off by Spider-Man: No Way Home (Hollywood) and Master & Darbar (both Tamil).
The four South languages’ combined share increased from 36% in 2019 to 59 percent in 2020 and 2021.
The Ormax Box Office Report 2020-21, published by media consultancy firm Ormax Media, revealed these figures. The study, which was originally published in 2016, examines the Indian box office in all languages, identifying major developments in the industry.
The influence of the epidemic on the Indian box office was also examined in the research. Compared to about Rs 11,000 crore in gross box office in 2019, the combined income for 2020 and 2021 was barely Rs 5,757 crore (an annual average of less than Rs 2,900 crore). “If 2019 is used as a baseline, the Indian cinema industry would have lost at least Rs 15,000 crore in box office due to the epidemic,” according to the research.
Footfalls fell from 103.0 crore in 2019 to 22.5 crore in 2020 and 42.7 crore in 2021, which is understandable.
“The pandemic has significantly damaged the Indian box office, with five out of the eight quarters in 2020 and 2021 having nil or little business, due to cinemas being shut in all or most regions of India,” stated Shailesh Kapoor, Founder & CEO, Ormax Media.
The industry, which is seeing its thunder stolen by the introduction of OTT platforms, has experienced a good rebound in the fourth quarter of 2021 (Oct-Dec), reporting gross box office of well above Rs 2,000 crore, offering optimism to the sector.
Movies like Gehraiyaan (Hindi), Mahaan (Tamil), and Bhamakalapam (Telugu), which would have otherwise been released in theatres, are now available on OTT platforms.
