Why Hollywood will be looking to Superman and Snow White to rescue it in India

Upcoming titles such as Captain America: Brave New World, Mission: Impossible–The Final Reckoning, Superman, Snow White, Thunderbolts, and Avatar: Fire and Ash are expected to help revive Hollywood box office collections in India. (X)
Upcoming titles such as Captain America: Brave New World, Mission: Impossible–The Final Reckoning, Superman, Snow White, Thunderbolts, and Avatar: Fire and Ash are expected to help revive Hollywood box office collections in India. (X)

Summary

  • 2024 was the worst year in about a decade for Hollywood films in India. But industry experts anticipate a revival this year given an interesting mix of upcoming superhero and other high-profile American movies.

For Hollywood movies in India, 2024 was among the worst in about a decade because of an overkill of brands like Avengers and big franchises failing to bring in the audience. But Captain America, Superman, and Snow White could possibly help the industry redeem itself this year, say trade experts.

Gross box office collections of American movies in India contracted 17% to ₹941 crore in 2024, according to media consulting firm Ormax. That was the first year since 2015—excluding the pandemic-affected years of 2020 and 2021—that Hollywood movies failed to cross the ₹1,000 crore mark at the box office in India, per Ormax. 

Box office collections for Hollywood films in India have gradually declined from ₹1,595 crore in 2019 to ₹1,230 crore in 2022 and ₹1,139 crore in 2023.

“Hollywood in India was primarily a Marvel (cinematic universe) game and that’s how the country (India) became a big market for the American industry. With the decline in earnings of Marvel film franchises, Hollywood too has tapered off and nothing really managed to do well here last year," independent film exhibitor Vishek Chauhan said. 

Also read | Bollywood set for ‘overkill’ with 50 film sequels slated for release in next two years

The Marvel brand—the Avengers franchise is part of the Marvel cinematic universe—grew organically in India just as local audiences were taking to Hollywood films that were dubbed in regional languages, but American movie studios have barely made any organised marketing efforts to address the Indian market, he added.

With the mind space for urban audiences saturated with multiple spin-offs, web series and movie versions of Star Wars and Avengers, tier-two and tier-three viewers have barely had any new action or mass-market films that cater to their sensibilities, Chauhan said. 

Many exhibitors in small towns are even giving up the 2K projectors required to run Hollywood films, he added.

As a rule, American studios only take their films to Digital Cinema Initiative-compliant theatres with 2K projectors in India. DCI is a joint venture of several film studios, including Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Paramount Pictures, Sony Pictures Entertainment, 20th Century Fox, Universal Studios, Walt Disney Co. and Warner Bros, with a common set of requirements to ensure a high and uniform standard of digital cinema viewing.

Also read | With Vijay exiting films for a political career, can Tamil cinema move beyond star power?

Mission: Possible

Some cinema owners, however, are expecting audiences to return to the theatres to watch a fresh lineup of upcoming Hollywood movies. Titles such as Captain America: Brave New World, Mission: Impossible–The Final Reckoning, Superman, Snow White, Thunderbolts, and Avatar: Fire and Ash could help bring back the mojo, they said.

Also, while the actors’ and writers’ strike in the US in 2023 delayed the release of several Hollywood films, trade experts see its impact waning now. “Things look better in 2025, and with franchises like Mission: Impossible, Jurassic World, and Avengers, the performance should improve," said Ashutosh Agarwal, owner of Star World Cinemas in Uttar Pradesh.

Pranav Garg, managing director at Maya Palace, a two-screen cinema in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh said American films are plagued by issues similar to Bollywood. 

“The quality (of Hollywood films) has really come down and there isn’t enough focus on the content. But viewers are always excited for Hollywood given the visual effects and now large-screen formats like IMAX," Garg said. “We are looking forward to instalments of franchises like Fast and Furious, and Transfomers."

Also read | Theatres brace for tepid start to the year as initial Bollywood line-up disappoints

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