FY25 saw a 26% drop in Hindi box office due to fewer releases and no major tentpoles.

“The box office in FY25 witnessed an uneven release late across quarters resulting in noticeable gaps in content flow and fluctuations in theatrical performance. Performance of Bollywood and Hollywood films was below expectations leading to a 9% drop in overall gross box office collections of the companies. HIndi box office dropped by 26% this year due to 14% fewer releases. No major superstar films and several postponements. Bollywood collections were down by 28% due to the impact of previous year's strike and weak lineup of the tent poles.”

— Ajay Bijli, MD

Hindi-dubbed regional films surged over 150%, even as Bollywood floundered.

“On the other hand, Hindi dubbed collections surged by over 150% with titles like Pushba 2 and Khalki resonating nationwide showing how audience tastes are shifting towards big fan India stories.”

— Ajay Bijli, MD

7.1 million incremental footfalls and ₹124 crore GBOC came from curated re-releases.

“During the year, we transitioned from managing footfalls to proactively manufacturing them. A shift that underscores our commitment to innovation in driving demand and enhancing audience engagement. Our strategic focus on curating re-releases delivered strong results contributing an incremental 7.1 million footfalls and approximately 124 crores in gross ticket collections during the year with an aim to making cinema going more accessible and habitua”

— Ajay Bijli, MD

Over 50% of planned screen additions will follow asset-light or management contract models.

“So in terms of you know a very vague guidance it'll be like a 30 70. So 30% of the screens would not be accounted for in our balance sheet because they will be under the FOCO model and 70% would be the ones which are effectively getting accounted for in our got that got that.”

— Ajay Bijli, MD

OTT intensity has faded; platform bids are now box office-driven.

“OTT platforms of course are also very careful now that they would like to see a theatrical performance of a movie before they buy and because they they used they were buying a lot of movies because shootings had stopped in the middle and also they were not being able to create TV shows.”

— Ajay Bijli, MD

PVR Inox is cutting costs through self-ticketing kiosks, renewable energy, and tight control across all expense heads.

“There are, you know, all other line items including manpower cost—we will continue to see if there is more automation that we can bring in our cinemas in terms of self-ticketing kiosks and other initiatives that can reduce manpower—as well as, you know, electricity, utility. In some of our cinemas we have deployed solar panels and moved to renewable energy—that has resulted in controlling utility cost. Similarly on other line items. So there is a continuous, you know, regular review on each and every line item in our P&L on the cost side and we are pretty hopeful that we will continue to be disciplined on our… on the cost front going forward as well.”

— Gaurav Sharma, CFO

PVR Inox is rapidly expanding to southern states as they claim that southern states bring more footfall per screen than the rest of India, making them more profitable.

“Occupancies are much higher over there..the culture to go and entertain yourself at cinemas is much stronger..average occupancies are around 30%..that’s right(pan-india is 25%)”

— Sanjeev Kumar Biji, Executive Director

The company is sticking to a winning formula. By keeping 40% of its new screens in the South, it's reinforcing its hold in a high performance region.

“We have around 1,761 screens now... 40% of that is in the south... we’re adding about 100 screens this year, and again about 40% will be in South India... that number is not going to change.”

— Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, Executive Director

By sharing costs with mall developers, PVR INOX spends less money while expanding faster.

“If we were to invest entirely, the capex for 100 screens would be ₹300–350 crore. But now with FOCO and asset-light, it stands around ₹175–200 crore.”

— Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, Executive Director

Food and drink spending is up, which is great for profits since F&B has higher margins than ticket sales

“F&B spend is measured by PH... we've gone above on spend per head from the last quarter and from same quarter last year... a 10 to 12% increase.”

— Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, Executive Director

More people are going to the movies again. A 10% increase in footfalls shows that theatres are bouncing back strongly.

“Much better than Q1 last year and Q4... we’ll probably end up clocking about 33.5 million people this quarter... Q1 last year was just about 30 million, so it’s about a 10% increase.”

— Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, Executive Director