Box office report: South outclasses Bollywood again in action-packed first half of season

We are halfway through the year 2024, and this is the time when we introspect on what we have accomplished and what we need to accomplish in the remaining half of the year. When it comes to the movie business, post-pandemic, there hasn't been much to talk about when it comes to box office numbers. But the Bollywood commercial circuit has been pleasantly surprised by a strong start to 2024, with a few films performing well in the first month.

The year started with Hrithik Roshan, Deepika Padukone and Anil Kapoor's film 'Fighter'This patriotic action film was directed by Siddharth Anand. Producers Viacom18 and Siddharth chose to release it on the January 25 holiday weekend. The film received positive reviews and ended up collecting around Rs 358 crore.

The following month saw another success in the form of Maddock Film and Jio Studio's “I lived like this in my heart”. This romantic comedy starred Shahid Kapoor and Kriti Sanon. Kriti played the role of a robot in the film and the music of the film also became instantly popular. Directed by Amit Joshi and Aradhana Shah, it grossed around Rs 133 crore.

Another suspense thriller, 'Shaitaan'released in March this year, also did good business at the box office and grossed around Rs 211 million. It was a remake of the Gujarati film 'Vash' starring Ajay Devgn, Jyothika, Janaki Bodiwala and others. Director Vikas Bahl directed and co-produced it with Jio Studios and Panorama Studios.

The same month, the production of Ekta Kapoor, Rhea Kapoor and Anil Kapoor, 'Crew'also earned a lot of money, earning around Rs 157 crore at the box office. Rajesh A Krishnan's comedy starred Kareena Kapoor Khan, Tabu, Kriti Sanon, Diljit Dosanjh and Kapil Sharma. The makers are now planning to make a sequel.

Apart from these big films, there have been some sleeper hits like Yami Gautam's “Article 370”which grossed over Rs 100 crore, Maddock Film's horror comedy 'go to me'is also doing good business and has already entered the Rs 100 crore club. Rajkummar Rao 'Srikanth' and Kartik Aryan “Champion Chandu”They too have slowly inched their way towards the Rs 100 crore club.

But some big budget films, like Ajay Devng's 'Maidan'Askhay Kumar-Tiger Shroff starring 'Bade Miyan Chote Miyan' failed to perform at all at the box office and reportedly suffered huge losses.

The magic of the South again

Even though these Hindi films did well at the box office, they faced huge competition from South cinema. In fact, some South films achieved back-to-back successes:

'Han-Man' (Telugu – Box office: Rs 350 crore approx), “Manjummel Boys” (Malayalam – Box office: Rs 242 crore approx), “Guntur Kaaram” (Telugu – Box office: Rs 171 crore approximately), “Goat's Life” (Malayalam – Box office: Rs 160 crore approx), 'Aavesham' (Malayalam – Box office: Rs 154 crore approximately).

Here are some of the regional films that grossed over Rs 150 million at the box office. Some films have done good business despite being made on limited budgets.

The mythological sci-fi action drama 'Kalki 2898 AD', which released this week, is proving to be a huge hit. The film, starring Amitabh Bachchan, Prabhas, Kamal Hassan and Deepika Padukone among many well-known actors, has had a stellar start with film industry insiders estimating the day's collections at around Rs 180 crore.

While the first half of the year was pretty decent, the second half is looking more promising with a plethora of big-ticket films in the pipeline, including:

Bollywood releases

“Singham again”

Raid 2'

'Bhool Bhulaiyya 3'

'Welcome to the jungle'

“Stars on the field”

South exits:

“Pushpa 2”

“Indian 2”

“Devara Part 1”

“Kantara Chapter 1”

'Double Ismart

'Kankuva' and many others