With
17
films
crossing
the
Rs
100
crore
mark
in
the
first
six
months,
this
year
relied
less
on
big-ticket
blockbusters.
Aishwarya
Rajesh,
Venkatesh
and
Meenakshi
Chaudhary
in
Sankranthiki
Vasthunam.
With
movie
theatres
struggling
to
attract
audiences
back
to
the
silver
screens,
new
scripts
and
franchise
titles
are
doing
the
magic,
as
box
office
collections
increased
by
14
per
cent
year-on-year
to
Rs
5,723
crore
(Rs
57.23
billion)
in
the
first
half
of
the
2025
calendar
year,
according
to
a
report.
With
a
steady
flow
of
17
films
crossing
the
Rs
100
crore
mark
(Rs
1
billion)
in
the
first
six
months,
this
year
relied
less
on
the
big-ticket
blockbusters,
a
report
released
by
Ormax
Media
stated.
Historical
movie
Chhaava,
based
on
Chhatrapati
Sambhaji
Maharaj’s
life,
is
the
highest-grossing
film
so
far
this
year.
The
Vicky
Kaushal
starrer
movie
minted
Rs
693
crore
(Rs
6.93
billion)
at
the
domestic
box
office
followed
by
the
Telugu
film
Sankranthiki
Vasthunam
(Rs
222
crore/Rs
2.22
billion).
In
June,
the
gross
collection
crossed
Rs
900
crore
(Rs
9
billion).
Aamir
Khan
with
Rishi
Shahani
and
Samvit
Desai
in
Sitaare
Zameen
Par.
The
Aamir
Khan
and
Genelia
Deshmukh
starrer
Sitaare
Zameen
Par,
which
was
exclusively
released
in
theatres
on
June
20,
came
at
the
third
position
in
terms
of
gross
domestic
box
office
collection,
with
Rs
201
crore
(Rs
2.01
billion).
It
featured
Khan
as
a
suspended
basketball
coach
who
serves
community
service
by
helping
a
team
of
players
with
disabilities.
Jacqueline
Fernandez,
Abhishek
Bachchan,
Nargis
Fakhri,
Akshay
Kumar,
Sonam
Bajwa
and
Ritiesh
Deshmukh
in
Housefull
5.
Housefull
5,
a
murder
mystery
comedy,
which
experimented
with
having
two
different
endings
minted
Rs
200
crore
(Rs
2
billion).
Raid
2,
starring
Riteish
Deshmukh
as
a
corrupt
politician
and
Ajay
Devgn
as
an
income
tax
officer,
minted
Rs
199
crore
(Rs
1.99
billion)
at
the
box
office.
Last
year
during
the
same
period,
10
films
had
crossed
the
Rs
100
crore
mark.
While
the
film
industry
struggled
to
fill
seats
in
theatres,
with
only
a
few
movie
releases
pulling
crowds
around
the
festive
season
last
year,
the
report
anticipates
this
year
to
break
records
in
terms
of
domestic
box
office
collection
with
an
overall
collection
of
Rs
13,500
crore
(Rs
135
billion).
‘Over
the
last
two
years,
the
January-June
period
has
contributed
42
per
cent
to
the
annual
box
office.
Applying
that
proportion,
2025
can
be
expected
to
close
at
Rs
13,500
crore,
which
will
make
it
the
best
year
ever
at
the
India
box
office,’
the
report
said.
Hrithik
Roshan
in
War
2.
Some
major
movies
expected
to
release
this
year
are
Kantara:
Chapter
1,
Avatar:
Fire
and
Ash
(third
instalment
in
the
Avatar
series),
War
2
(Yash
Raj
Films’
spy
universe
film),
and
Coolie
(the
Tamil
action
thriller
starring
Rajnikanth),
among
others.
The
year
started
strong
with
Pushpa
2:
The
Rule
continuing
its
theatrical
run
in
January,
followed
by
Maddock
Films-backed
Chhaava
in
February
and
Raid
2
in
May.
Salman
Khan
and
Rashmika
Mandanna
in
Sikander.
However,
the
industry
faced
a
challenging
time
around
April-end
and
the
start
of
May
in
northern
and
western
regions
near
the
border,
where
cinemas
in
select
cities
had
to
cancel
night
shows
due
to
tensions
between
India
and
Pakistan.
Adding
to
this,
some
major
releases
like
the
Akshay
Kumar
starrer
Sky
Force,
and
Sikander
featuring
Salman
Khan
failed
to
perform
as
expected
at
the
box
office.
In
terms
of
linguistic
contributions
to
the
domestic
box
office,
Hindi
movies
led
with
40
per
cent
of
the
share
in
the
January-June
period,
in
line
with
last
year.
This
was
followed
by
Telugu
and
Tamil
films
at
20
per
cent
and
15
per
cent
respectively.
On
the
back
of
several
high-profile
releases,
Hollywood’s
contribution
to
the
domestic
box
office
returned
to
the
double-digit
share,
having
last
crossed
the
10
per
cent-mark
in
2022,
the
report
added.
