The year is certain to be another poor one unless Ae Dil Hai Mushkil, Shivaay, Befikre, Dangal and the other films become big winners. Business is already down 75 crore from last year from the same point (a week before Diwali). The cumulative nett gross is 1950 crore as against the 2025 crore last year at the same time. This is with a better flow this year and more films getting advantage of tax free but the gain here is probably incorporated into the highest rates in some states as compared to the first half of last year. One real grosser in Sultan and all the other releases struggling to cross even 125 crore nett which is not exactly a huge total total today.

The problem is not that the year again will end with the same cumulative business as last year but its happened three years in a row. The footfalls are looking at a 5% drop as ticket rates have not seen huge gains this year which was also the case last year. The huge problem is that footfalls have dropped 20% since 2013. In that year there were over 34 crore footfalls for Hindi films and this year we will probably just cross 27 crore. It is all about the content being churned out as Hollywood films which are aiming at the same markets have made good inroads in this time since 2013. Only Aamir Khan, Salman Khan and Shahrukh Khan have delivered bigger grossers than The Jungle Book and if we look at non holiday grossers then The Jungle Book is number one beating Yeh Jawaani Hai Deewani which is the highest Hindi non holiday grosser.