By Our Insights Desk
Our monthly feature The India Box Office Report tracks the performance of the various films released every month at the Indian (domestic) box office. Monthly reports are published on this website in the third week of the following month. If the numbers for your film do not match those in our report, we will be happy to get information from you on the same, and update the report. Our email ID is mentioned at the end of this report below.
This is the March 2023 edition of the report, which also marks the end of the first quarter of the calendar year. You can access the previous reports in the Insights section of this website.
Cumulative Box Office: March 2023
Films released in March 2023 grossed only ₹668 Cr at the domestic box office. This is the third-lowest monthly number in the last 12 months (Apr 2022-Mar 2023), after Feb 2023 (₹375 Cr) and Jul 2022 (₹646 Cr).
The Jan-Mar quarter thus closes at ₹2,432 Cr, which is 1.2% lower than the same period in 2022. However, Jan 2022 was heavily disrupted because of the third COVID wave. Hence, the performance of the first quarter of 2023 can be called below average at best. On pro rata basis, 2023 can be estimated to gross ₹9,728 Cr, which is ₹909 Cr less than 2022 (see our 2022 box office report).
Top 10 Films
The chart below lists the top 10 films released in March 2023, based on their box office performance in India.
Hindi film Tu Jhoothi Main Makkaar takes the top spot, being the only film to cross the ₹100 Cr gross mark in the month. It now features at no. 4 on the 2023 list, behind Pathaan, Varisu and Waltair Veerayya. The outstanding box office performance of Pathaan, which alone has contributed to almost 27% to the Jan-Mar 2023 box office, makes the year look a lot better than how the last two months have performed. The rest of the year will need at least two, if not three, films of Pathaan's level of success, if it has to get close, or surpass, the box office gross of 2022.
Language Share
For language share calculation, language-wise box office of films releasing in multiple languages is assigned to the corresponding language. However, for Hollywood, the data for all languages is reported under the language head ‘Hollywood’.
Hindi language's share stands at a solid 41%, with Tu Jhoothi Main Makkar and Bholaa making it to the top 10 list of the year so far. Hindi language's share was only 33% in 2022, and so far, there's been definite improvement over that.
How to read the numbers in this report?
Different language industries follow different reporting conventions (Gross, Nett or Share). We have used Gross Box Office as the unified measure for this report. For films releasing in multiple languages, collections are added up across languages to arrive at the film’s Gross Box Office at an all-India level.
Some films may be running in theatres at the time of publishing this report every month. For these films, Gross Box Office is estimated based on the latest trends available. Hence, it is normal that some numbers may be updated in the following month’s report, once actual collections have been estimated.
Numbers for a film are assigned to the month of its release, even if the business is spread over two or more months. For example, Pathaan released on January 25, 2023, and a sizeable component of the film’s business was registered in February 2023. However, in the analysis, Pathaan's entire box office has been credited to the month of January.
For feedback and inquiries, you can mail us at [email protected].
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