Drastic fall in footfalls for Bollywood movies

The number of people watching movies in a theatre is dropping alarmingly fast with each passing day. Irrespective of the pre-release promotions and hype, almost 90% of the films are not even getting a good opening at the box office. The month of November 2014 was probably one of the worst for Hindi Cinema, and the dull period continued across January with the only exception being films like ‘PK’, ‘Baby’ and ‘Badlapur’. Even a film like ‘Baby’ with exceptional word-of-mouth and a superstar like Akshay Kumar, failed to cross the 100 crore mark.

So why have people stopped going to theatres like they used to before? Our analysis below..

Rising Ticket Prices: It seems the multiplex culture has done more harm than good to the movie going audience. An average ticket price of Rs 350 has made the audience extremely selective when it comes to planning a movie outing. For a family of four, these kind of rates definitely leave a huge hole in the pockets. It’s not only about ticket prices but also snacks and other refreshments at theatres. A normal salted popcorn + Coke at a PVR Juhu costs Rs 210. A simple outing at a theatre costs a family anywhere between Rs 2000 – 2200.

The decline of Wholesome Cinema: There has been a gradual decline in films that provide Wholesome entertainment (or as we say a ‘paisa vasool’ film). Even today, for a film to do good business all across the country, what works is wholesomely entertaining films. From the time of Manmohan Desai to Rohit Shetty, very little has changed. The audience is the same; they want entertaining films that can be enjoyed with a few laughs and by shedding a few tears. We have scrutinised and over evaluated films and audience, often failing by trying to go different (by creating concept oriented films) or by creating projects (over the top masala films). Rajkumar Hirani has always got it right, because he has kept it simple by understanding basic human emotions and presenting them in a socially relevant way. When the audience feels that a certain movie is ‘value for money’, they wouldn’t mind paying that extra buck to go and enjoy the film in theatre.

Piracy and Genre of the film: Piracy has been another issue that has affected the film industry. The fact that people are watching pirated films is proof enough that people have not lost interest in films, but are disinterested to go to theatres. We feel the genre of the film is one of the key factors that may influence a movie goer to go to the theatres. Today a high concept action film or drama may find its takers but a regular love story will not influence the audience to go to the theatres unless it offers something unique. For instance this year, Baby and Badlapur did reasonably good business (both being action engaging films) and Dum Laga Ke Haisha is being appreciated (being a different love story not the typical guy-girl romance).

Lack of Innovative Marketing: With almost 2 films releasing every week, there is a lack of innovation when it comes to marketing. It seems every production house has a standard template of marketing, wherein they release TV promos, do city visits and schedule regular interviews. The audience notices the same marketing pattern almost every week, there is a need to break away from the routine and do something different when it comes to promotion. Creativity in marketing campaigns is probably as important as creativity in content of films.

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55 Comments

  • Great articles by valuable indicine team. Thanks..
    In Myanmar, if bollywood movie release in theatre then DVD sellers can’t sell that pirate DVD. If movie dropped then can sell.
    But Myanmar movie release in theatre that DVD pirate can’t sell minimum one year. If DVD sellers sell that movie than that sellers facing to jail minimum 6 months.

  • The true stars are still making great films
    Kudos to Salman for doing a family oriented film like Prem Ratan Dhan Payo
    Kudos to Aamir for doing social based film like PK
    Kudos to Akshay for doing a class film like Baby
    Kudos to Hrithik for doing Mohenjodaro
    Kudos to Shahid for doing Haider
    Kudos to Varun for doing Badlapur

  • Nicely written! Viewers are surely getting selective because of the rising ticket prices. It becomes almost difficult for an ” average middle class family” to shell out that amount twice or thrice a month.

  • but I blv that this lull period was always about to happen bcz from june 2011 to oct 2014 around 63 films got semi hit to atbb verdict which was a very good achievement.

    So there is no need to panic over this lull period.it will soon b over.I think good days at the cinema will return with bv in may followed by a truckloas of hits like ddd,bb,prdp,abcd2,dhoni,jj,brothers,dilwale,bm,fan,phantom and many more.

  • Well Said indicine..
    Films like Baby,Shamitabh,Happy Ending deserves much collections..

  • for me it is SRK who is the best to promote his movies in bolywood his team is doing a great marketing too i just cant ignore this man…… his energy just no body has like him love you my jaan?????

  • There is a decline of 50 crore when comparing the collections of January 2014 and February 2014 combined to January 2015 and February 2015 combined.

    January 2014 + February 2014 = 376 crore
    January 2015 + February 2015 = 327 crore

    Bollywood Apocalypse coming!!!

  • This year reminds me of 2009.but its notch better than 2014-15.movies like 3 i,wake up sid,wanted rocked the year.you need to learn lessons bollywood. So die you mother fu…rs die lol.(pulp fic quote)

  • Glad PK has risen above all .
    But still 2015 is off to a poor start with no PURE HIT
    tevar flop
    baby average
    alone flop
    roy flop
    badlapur above average.

    Will dum laga ke haisha be 1st HIT of 2015 ????

  • Some producers just don’t know what the hell they are doing. Bollywood would make much more money by LOWERING ticket prices a bit. Not raising them. ..With streaming video and cheap rentals competing with the theaters, they are deceiving themselves if they think people would be willing to continue to fork over more money just to see a movie sooner…or in a big, dark room with strangers.
    No, it’s really not a big deal like it used to be to warrant such exorbitant prices. We’d rather just watch it at home or online. Theaters need to get over themselves and the products they are offering. .They aren’t that great–the experience nor the actual quality of the movies.

  • The audience ultimately controls the price of movie tickets. If the cost is too high, Empty seats on opening weekends will definitely result in lower ticket prices. Never forget, the consumer of non-essential products are the ones in control.

  • Also news of salman driving in the streets makes people more conscious and they prefer staying at home.

  • Srk film sirf prmotion & holiday par chalti hai . Akki sir baby film collected about 95 crore , holiday 114 crore with less promotion . Whenever i write against srk u delete my comment why it happens i don’t know .

  • don,t know what will happen to bollywood without khans because in few years all blockbusters are only given by khans.

  • sad….lots and loads need to be done to curb piracy….

    having said so, bollywood as an industry has to look at good interesting engaging stories rather than just following some formula…..also costing is equally important as that defines the business economics for all films – big or small!

  • Now these day people want to watch Quality and Entertaining movie with a big Star and Big Banners. Like p.k, Chennai Express, Yeh Jawani Hai Deewani, Wanted and Krish 3.

    Not like Dhoom3, Jai Ho, Happy New Year, Bang Bang, Besharm because these movie are work only for Star Value and There Brand value, Banners value and Holiday Release.

  • @amir pk,yeah why not?if one can hike the ticket price to double ,then probably he can get bigger hit than pk.compared to that pk is a average hit with such double hiked ticket price with hypocrisy at it’s peak from highly double standard peoples like amir,vvc,boi,raju and their plagiarised movie,lol.

  • Film’s music is also a critical factor as a part of good marketing. Only one super hit song can give a huge opening. e.g. Ek Villiain & Roy…

    I think industry need more people like Bhushan Kumar who has great sense of music….

    If ‘Dum laga ke haisha’ had one good song then INDICINE already declared its verdict as ‘superhit’….

  • I am really proud of srk to have made bollywood to another level.
    I am a big fan of bollywood reallly love it.
    And i am big fan of indicine…
    Actually, bollywood is turning into a very bad phase; i have seen some movies which had lip locking and other sex content.. i hope they should include these things i hate it!!!
    Biggest stars of bollywood are srk and hrithiK. Without these legends bollywood would be emptywood …. blah blah blah.

  • Wth!!!! I said they should not include sex content sorry.
    In this world there are two kinds of people:
    Winners like srk and hrithik roshan and their fans , and losers like lallu and emotionist khans and their mindless fans.
    But life always gives every loser a sencond chance to redeem himself..
    Srk and hrithik will rule bollywood from 2015 upto 2025 for surety!!!!

  • I think the ticket prices are hurting the business big time now..also the refreshment available adds to that cost/
    And why will anyone watch a film like Happy Ending for example?
    The songs did’nt worked,Saif is’nt a huge star,ticket prices so high and then the film is available on torrent sites in a days time for free..Why would anyone spend??
    Here music plays a huge part…A film like yaariyan with young unknown faces did well only on the basis of its chartbuster music..Actually i would correct myself,music today is more important the story of a film..It helps you get a good opening and If the budget is on a lower side,recovery is done within a week.

    Also I think here a well made “Masala” film providing entertainment like KICK,CE,Agneepath,Holiday will continue to do well bcoz people go to watch a film after their tedious day at work and then they don’t wanna see a slow even though content rich films like Lootera,guzaarish,Dedh ishqiya..

  • Main reason is the ticket cost in Multiplex , They really need to re think about this. Atleast they shoudl categorise the prices based on the movies. For festival movies of Big stars like SRK , Salman and Aamir they can keep any price and the tickets will be sold out . But who will play 350 for watching ABCD or Badlapur ? I think they should reduce atleast 50% of prices for smaller movies. Also they are looting people in the interval , Snacks are costlier than the movie tickets. I hope people will stop spending money on Snacks so that they will learn a lesson.

  • I think Big Star, Big Banners, Big Holidays, Big Promotion and Big Brand make these Flop movie a Super Hit, Blockbuster, All Time Blockbuster.

    1) Dhoom 3

    2) Ek Tha Tiger

    3) Happy New Year

    4) Kick

    5) Bang Bang

    6) Dabangg 2

    7) Jai Ho

    8) Ra One

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