The first quarter of 2020 had seen its fair share of catastrophe. Alongside natural disasters such as the deadly Australian bushfires, there was the recent earthquake causing destruction all over the globe. But these disastrous circumstances were countered by something even worse- the deadliest virus in centuries: the coronavirus and its infection which slowly destroyed you from within. These disasters put pressure on many businesses- especially ones including theatres where people go to relax and forget about life for a while. This special report looks back at what theater attendance has done since 2020 began, comparing it to previous years’ numbers.
Going off the current trend in movie releases for international movies, it has been noted that Hollywood films have barely managed to generate any revenue in India. In fact, current projections show only about Rs. 100 crores coming from the box office between April- June 2020 with films 1917 and Dolittle bringing in about Rs. 20 crores each; whereas during this time period last year (2019), there were about Rs. 150 crores with Captain Marvel earning about 112 crores and How To Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World earning around 24 crores respectively. As opposed to this (2018) which saw less than a measly 60 crores at the box office, 2017 earned close to 160 crores when you look at XXX: Return of Xander Cage earning around 30 crores while Logan earned close to 37 crore rupees respectively)
Reasoning why the first quarter of 2020 has been rather disappointing at the box office, film trade analyst Girish Johar says, If you look at the releases in 2020 as compared to previous years, the first three months did not feature big ticket releases that would draw in the audience. Films like Fast & Furious 9 which was slated to release have been pushed back due to the Coronavirus pandemic, so of course the first quarter has been bleak. Speaking further about this tepid business during these opening months he commented, Also if you see in this short amount of time we’ve spent in 2020 – for instance – films that released didn’t showcase much content and were often considered poor quality. So audiences also made a decision [to skip them]. Unlike other years where one or two good movies came out during this time period (and became hits), there wasn’t anything good enough for people to watch.
Despite believing that the first quarter of 2020 was bad, Girish has hope for what’s to come. He explains that this may be attributed to a number of films having been rescheduled to release later. Once the government clears these films and releases them, people are sure to start going to theaters again. As Johar says, because film had been shifted released date then there would need re-promoting and marketing done. The upcoming two quarters of 2020 will undoubtedly bring some additional revenue as long as productions keep up with their gameplan.
Year Wise First Quarter Report of Hollywood films at the India box office [All figures are approximate]
2020 – Rs. 50 cr.
2019 – Rs. 125 cr.
2018 – Rs. 75 cr.
2017 – Rs. 135 cr.
