The first half of calendar year 2025 seems to have been a good period for films as they grossed a healthy Rs. 5,723 crore (14 percent higher than 2024) at the India box office, with 17 films crossing the Rs. 100 crore mark, compared to just 10 in January-June 2024, Ormax Media’s The India Box Office report has revealed.

‘Chhaava’ was the highest-grossing film of the year so far, at Rs. 693 crore. Interestingly the box office (BO) success has not been due to one or two mega hits, but a stream of steady performers. Only one film has crossed the Rs. 250 crore mark so far, while several films collected above Rs. 100 crore at BO.

Ormax’s monthly feature, The India Box Office Report, tracks the performance of the various films released every month at the Indian (domestic) box office. Monthly reports are published on the website in the third week of the following month. In this mid-year edition, the company evaluates overall performance of the Indian box office in the six-month period from January-June 2025.

(https://www.ormaxmedia.com/insights/stories/the-india-box-office-report-jan-jun-2025.html)

June 2025 was another steady month at the India box office, with gross collections crossing Rs. 900 crore, including projected future collections of June releases still running in theatres. Hindi films ‘Sitaare Zameen Par’ and ‘Housefull 5’ emerged as the top grossers of the month, touching the Rs. 200 crore mark. ‘Kuberaa’ (Tamil/ Telugu) and ‘F1: The Movie’ (Hollywood) were the other major contributors to the month’s box office.

 

Over the last two years, the Jan-Jun period contributed 42 percent 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. Whether that happens or not will depend on the performance of the big releases lined up in the second half of the year — such as ‘Kantara: Chapter 1’, ‘Avatar: Fire and Ash’, ‘War 2’, ‘Coolie’, ‘Akhanda 2’ ‘Thama’ and ‘OG’.

According to the Ormax report, 17 films crossed the Rs. 100 crore gross mark in the first half of 2025, compared to only 10 films in 2024. With only one film crossing Rs. 250 crore. ‘Chhaava’ was the highest-grossing film in the first half of 2025 by a wide margin, followed by the Telugu film ‘Sankranthiki Vasthunam’.

For language share calculation, the language-wise box office of films releasing in multiple languages is assigned to the corresponding language. However, for Hollywood, the data for all languages is reported under the language head ‘Hollywood’.

The shares of various languages are very similar to the cumulative figures of 2024, where Hindi led with 40 percent share, followed by Telugu and Tamil at 20 percent and 15 percent, respectively. Hollywood has returned to the double-digit share after three years, having last crossed the 10 percent mark in 2022.

(Chart courtesy Ormax Media)