India box office crosses ₹13,000 cr for the first time as 2025 rewrites theatrical economics
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India’s theatrical film business scaled an unprecedented milestone in 2025, with gross box office collections touching ₹13,395 crore, making it the highest-grossing year in the history of Indian cinema. The industry surpassed the previous record set in 2023 (₹12,226 crore), buoyed by a sharp rise in big-ticket hits, higher ticket prices, and a strong resurgence of Hindi and international films, according to The Ormax Box Office Report 2025.
As many as 37 films crossed the ₹100-crore mark during the year, a significant jump from 22 films in 2024, underscoring the growing concentration of box office revenues around large, event-driven releases.
Hindi cinema stages a decisive comeback
2025 also emerged as the best-ever year for Hindi cinema, with domestic box office collections rising 18% year-on-year to ₹5,504 crore. A notable shift was the renewed dominance of original Hindi-language films, which accounted for 93% of Hindi box office revenues. Dependence on dubbed South Indian films dropped sharply from 31% in 2024 to just 7% in 2025, signalling a reset in audience preference towards mainstream Hindi content.
The biggest beneficiary of this revival was Dhurandhar, which grossed ₹950 crore at the India box office, setting a new all-time record for a Hindi-language film and overtaking Stree 2 (₹698 crore). Along with Kantara A Legend: Chapter-1 and Chhaava, it was among the only three films to cross the ₹500-crore mark in 2025. Titles such as Saiyaara, Coolie and the multi-lingual animated film Mahavatar Narsimha also emerged as major contributors, each grossing over ₹300 crore.
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International films rebound sharply
International cinema marked a resurgent year, clocking 49% growth over 2024. This made 2025 the highest-grossing year for international films in India since the pandemic, and the second-best year of all time after 2019. A steadier pipeline of Hollywood releases and the return of large-scale franchises helped restore audience interest and box office momentum.
South Indian cinema: growth moderates
The cumulative share of the four South Indian languages—Telugu, Tamil, Malayalam and Kannada—declined from 48% in 2024 to 44% in 2025. Kannada cinema was the clear outlier, registering significant growth on the back of Kantara A Legend: Chapter-1. Other South markets remained largely flat, increasingly relying on higher ticket prices rather than volume-led growth.
Footfalls fall, prices do the heavy lifting
Despite record revenues, domestic footfalls declined by 6% year-on-year to 83.2 crore (832 million), underlining the industry’s continued dependence on pricing. Average Ticket Price (ATP) rose sharply by 20%—the steepest increase in the past four years—from ₹134 in 2024 to ₹161 in 2025.
The increase was driven by a higher box office share of Hindi and international films, which typically command premium pricing, as well as elevated ticket prices for select big-budget South Indian releases. Together, Hindi and international films accounted for 52% of total box office collections in 2025, up from 47% a year earlier.
Regional cinema tells a mixed story
Regional cinema performance diverged sharply. Gujarati cinema delivered a breakout year, with collections surging 189% from ₹84 crore in 2024 to ₹242 crore in 2025. The growth was driven by Laalo: Krishna Sada Sahaayate, which grossed ₹114 crore to become the highest-grossing Gujarati film of all time.
In contrast, Marathi and Punjabi cinema recorded steep declines of 46% and 43% respectively, reflecting the absence of large franchise titles or breakout hits.
The road ahead
While 2025 will be remembered as a landmark year in revenue terms, the decline in footfalls highlights a structural challenge. Box office growth is increasingly being driven by higher ticket prices and a narrow set of blockbuster films, rather than broad-based audience expansion. With theatre attendance still below pre-pandemic levels, the industry’s next inflection point will depend on its ability to balance premium pricing with sustained, volume-led growth.
For now, the Indian box office has decisively reset its benchmarks—both in scale and in the economics that underpin theatrical success.