With the action blockbuster Dhurandhar officially crossing the ₹870 crore mark, it has cemented its place in history as the first original Hindi language film to breach the ₹800 crore threshold. This milestone confirms a seismic shift in the industry: Bollywood hits are generating significantly higher revenues today than in the pre-pandemic era.
The blockbuster leap
Alongside Dhurandhar, period drama Chhaava, horror comedy Stree 2 and Shah Rukh Khan’s Jawan have helped launch the ₹600-crore club over the past three years. Earlier milestones were set by Pathaan, Gadar 2 and Animal, which emerged as the first Hindi films to cross ₹500 crore.
In fact, nine of the top 10 highest-grossing Bollywood titles of all time have been released only in the post-covid period. While inflated ticket rates have played a role, trade experts say polarization has become far starker than before. Audiences may be coming to cinemas for fewer films, but when they find larger-than-life content compelling, they are turning up in huge numbers—and often repeatedly.
Before the pandemic, the highest-grossing Hindi film, Dangal, had managed a domestic box office collection of ₹387.38 crore. According to media consulting firm Ormax, average ticket prices stood at ₹161 in 2025, compared with ₹106 in 2019. While India’s gross box office has risen to ₹13,395 crore from ₹10,948 crore over the same period, footfalls have fallen from 103 crore to 83.2 crore.
“What’s fundamentally changed is audience selectivity and the event film phenomenon. Pre-covid, theatrical releases were competing primarily with each other. Today, they’re competing with OTT and streaming libraries offering thousands of titles at home. This has concentrated footfalls around fewer, bigger films. When audiences decide a film is worth leaving home for, they show up in unprecedented numbers,” said Devang Sampat, managing director, Cinepolis India.
Pan-India expansion
A second major shift is the democratization of regional blockbusters. In the past, a Telugu or Tamil hit would earn 70-80% of its revenue in its home market. Today, films like Kantara, Pushpa, and RRR draw 40-50% of their collections from outside their primary language markets.
Furthermore, the expansion of premium formats like IMAX and 4DX has raised the revenue ceiling. These screens command prices two to three times higher than standard tickets, yet films like Kalki 2898 AD or Pushpa 2 have maintained near-100% occupancy on these formats for weeks.
Kamal Gianchandani, chief business planning and strategy at PVR INOX Ltd, observes a distinct shift in consumer habits.
“People are going for films once or twice a year, which means an infrequency has come in, but they are gravitating towards popular films with word-of-mouth, whereas earlier tastes were more broad-based,” Gianchandani said.
While niche segments still exist, he notes that the films hitting the "ball out of the park" are now essential to balancing a cinema’s entire portfolio.
Cinema owners and trade experts also point out that once a film demonstrates exceptional audience pull, it tends to command a growing share of screens.
“The advantage of pricing is coupled with a huge volume of shows and screens for the audience to focus on one big output,” said Rahul Puri, managing director of Mukta Arts and Mukta A2 Cinemas.
Buzz-driven box office
To be sure, collections that were once spread across many releases are now being concentrated on a few standout titles that generate strong excitement and deliver a compelling theatrical experience.
Ashish Saksena, chief operating officer—cinemas at BookMyShow, said ticket pricing has played a supporting role, but the bigger momentum is being driven by wider pan-India releases, sharper awareness built through digital and social platforms, and appeal that cuts across age groups and regions.
Structural shifts such as increased cinema density, deeper mobile and internet penetration, and higher purchasing power have also contributed to growth. Continued investment by cinemas in bigger screens and superior sound systems, along with more films releasing in IMAX or 4DX formats, ensures audiences continue to prefer the theatrical experience, he added.
“A major reason for this is that the social media buzz around songs, dialogues, performances and moments is far stronger than what we saw pre-pandemic. This heightened buzz, combined with selective audience turnout and ticket pricing, leads to higher footfalls for a few standout films—allowing them to cross ₹500, ₹600 and even ₹800 crore benchmarks,” said Bhuvanesh Mendiratta, managing director, Miraj Entertainment Ltd.