With Pushpa 2, Kalki, Other Telegu Films Taking Centre Stage, Only Stree 2 Stands Out. Here's How 2024 Box Office Fared

(MENAFN- Live Mint) This year bollywood movies disappointed cinema enthusiasts, notwithstanding the expectations of the audiences. Telugu blockbusters like "Pushpa 2" and "Kalki 2898 AD" appeared to be more appealing with larger-than-life stories.

Horror comedy Stree 2, emerged as one of the big success stories for the Hindi film industry among its competitors like "Laila Majnu", "Tumbbad", "Veer Zaara" and many others that were re-releases. Stree 2 netted ₹597 crore nett while no other Hindi movie moved close to ₹500 crore mark at the box office this year.

Allu Arjun starrer Pushpa 2 released on December 5, collected more than ₹700 crore in Hindi while its worldwide gross is more than ₹1,700 crore, according to Mythri Movie Makers . The Tollywood action-thriller, with a pan-India approach, was released in multiple languages, including Telugu, Hindi, Tamil, Kannada, Bengali and Malayalam. Notably, its prequel Pushpa 1 released in 2021, had performed exceptionally well in the Hindi belt.

"To make an entertainer and bring out a big success is not an easy thing. It requires a lot of patience and many other factors. It is a magic recipe and nobody knows the formula. 'Pushpa' and films like that are turning the wheel of the Indian film industry," PTI quoted Malayalam superstar Mohanlal as saying.

According to Sacnilk Nag Ashwin's futuristic movie "Kalki" inspired by Mahabharata minted over ₹290 crore just in Hindi language in June this year. Prabhas starrer movie featured a talented ensemble cast including Amitabh Bachchan and Deepika Padukone.

Bollywood delivered four blockbusters last year, including Shah Rukh Khan's Pathaan, Jawan, Sunny Deol's "Gadar 2" and Ranbir Kapoor's Animal. All of these raked in over ₹600 crore each at the worldwide box office with SRK's movies crossing ₹1,000 crore mark.

Film trade analyst Taran Adarsh said,“I would not call it a bad year for Bollywood but yes if you compare to last year, we had four films crossing ₹400 crore at the box office. This year has not been that great except for 'Stree 2' and 'Pushpa 2', which is a Telugu release.”

He added, "Box office can be unpredictable and there are phases. But there are lessons to be learned, we need to make films that cater to pan-India audiences. Bollywood will, hopefully, bounce back in a big way next year," trade analyst Taran Adarsh told PTI.

MD at Miraj Entertainment Ltd Amit Sharma, called 2024 a "disastrous" year for Hindi cinema. He said, "The business is down by at least 30 per cent compared to 2023 where we had 'Pathaan', 'Gadar 2', 'Jawan', 'Animal', 'Dunki', 'Fukrey' and 'Dream Girl 2'... When it comes to Bollywood in 2024, you can't really speak about anything apart from 'Stree 2' and to an extent 'Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3' and 'Singham' and films like 'Laapata Ladies' and 'Shaitaan'. But commercially there is no comparison between 2024 and 2023," reported PTI.

Besides Stree 2, Kartik Aaryan's Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 and Maddock Films' Munjya did decent business at the box office in the horror-comedy genre.

Siddharth Anand directorial Fighter couldn't replicate the success stories of 2023 Shah Rukh Khan starrer, despite same director. Hrithik Roshan and Deepika Padukone starrer featuring high octane action sequencesunderperformed at the box office. Made on a big budget of around ₹250 crore, it netted ₹212 crore at the domestic box office, Sacnilk reported.

Meanwhile, Ajay Devgn movie Singham Again's decent business fell short of being a blockbuster as it minted ₹247 crore nett. Other underperforming movies were Sidharth Malhotra's Yodha, Akshay Kumar's Bade Miyan Chote Miyan, Ajay Devgn's Maidaan, Kartik Aaryan's Chandu Champion and Alia Bhatt-starrer Jigra. Akshay Kumar's Sarfira and Khel Khel Mein were also a big disappointment.

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