BookMyShow reveals India’s cinematic frenzy in 2023

In a testament to India’s continuing passion for cinematic experiences, as many as 1,648,508 movie enthusiasts watched at least six movies and more in 2023, with an average frequency of at least one visit to the cinemas every two months, according to BookMyShow’s year-end wrap Best of 2023 – Entertainment On A Spree that curates data from 1 January to 5 December 2023.

Titles such as Jawan, Pathaan, Gadar 2: The Katha Continues, Jailer, Animal (Hindi), Leo, The Kerala Story, Adipurush (Hindi), Ponniyan Selvan: Part 2 (Tamil), Tiger 3, Rocky Aur Rani Kii Prem Kahaani, and OMG 2 emerged as crowd favourites. The pinnacle of this cinematic fervour was reached on 13 August, when a record-breaking 2.8 million tickets were sold, marking the highest single-day sales of the year.

The Independence Day week, spanning 13 August to 20 August 20, witnessed an unprecedented surge in cinema attendance, with 10.9 million audiences booking tickets on BookMyShow. A cinephile, a resident from Hyderabad, stood out by watching a total 99 films in cinemas throughout the year.

Additionally, urban centres like Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, and Trivandrum defied conventional timelines by attracting moviegoers between 12 am and 6 am. Weekdays proved to be popular choices for moviegoers, constituting 37% of all cinema visits, while diverse genres such as action, drama, comedy, thrillers, and historicals captured the hearts of the audience.

The resurgence of mass-market commercial entertainers in Hindi, complemented by strong showings in Tamil and Telugu, breathed new life into standalone single-screen cinemas. Overcoming challenges predating the Covid-19 era and persisting through the pandemic, these cinemas experienced a 40% increase in business. Gadar 2 and Jawan, coupled with affordable ticket prices, played an important role in attracting audiences from small towns and rejuvenating the single-screen cinema experience.

“The good news is we’ve seen all kinds of genres work in Hindi cinema this year, be it blockbusters like Pathaan, Jawan and Animal or sleeper hits such as Dream Girl 2 and Zara Hatke Zara Bachke,” Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, executive director, PVR Inox Ltd, had said in a recent interview to Mint.

Mumbai, Hyderabad, Delhi-NCR, Bengaluru, and Chennai took the lead in entertainment attendance, spanning movies, live events, and on-demand video with BookMyShow Stream. In 2023, a notable trend emerged, as non-metros and tier-two markets, particularly Ahmedabad, experienced a significant growth in entertainment consumption, according to the BookMyShow report.

Along with films, the appetite for on-ground live events surged, with approximately 13.5 million attendees, reflecting an 82% growth in specially-curated international live events compared to the previous year. BookMyShow Live experienced a 2.3-fold increase in its consumer cohort of premium event-goers. Of the 26,359 events held across 250-plus cities, 949,455 individuals chose to embark on solo live entertainment experiences.

The demographic breakdown revealed that 39% of the live entertainment audience comprised Gen Z, while 49% were millennials.

With global events and names like Lollapalooza India 2023, Trevor Noah, Daniel Sloss, Backstreet Boys, Westlife, Jay Shetty and MotoGP hitting Indian shores, many people found a reason to travel and in 2023. As many as 411,002 live entertainment enthusiasts travelled outside of their home cities for experiences. While the top metros continued to clock footfalls, it was the tier-two cities such as Lucknow, Bhubaneswar and Nagpur that emerged as important markets for live-event experiences, marking a growth of 225% in ticket sales from last year.

BookMyShow Stream, the company’s transaction video-on-demand (TVoD) service, premiered over 2,291 titles in the past 12 months. Featuring 160 new releases and 17 exclusive titles, the platform garnered 122,187 hours of viewing. Titles like Everyone Everywhere All At Once and Transformers: Rise of the Beasts were the top favourites on the platform, while genres like action, drama, documentaries, science fiction and period films found favour along with languages such as English, Spanish, Danish, French, Norwegian.