Hollywood’s India box office has already cleared a full-year benchmark. Ormax Media data cited by Bollywood Hungama puts the January-July 2026 gross at Rs. 1,424 crores, ahead of the Rs. 1,403 crores Hollywood earned in all of 2025. The 2019 high of Rs. 1,595 crores is the next target.
Why the theatrical curve is bending back
Kamal Gianchandani, Chief Business Planning & Strategy at PVR INOX and CEO of PVR INOX Pictures, attributes the rebound to a mix of supply and demand. After four-five years of strikes and direct-to-streaming experiments, studios are returning to wide theatrical windows and heavier marketing. On the demand side, he says “streaming fatigue” is real. “People are tired of consuming films at home,” he told Bollywood Hungama; they want the collective outing, not just the film.
That is the clearest signal for entertainment marketers: theatrical is becoming an event category again, not a fallback to streaming.
The slate that supports the next leg
Gianchandani expects Avengers: Endgame: Encore, releasing Friday, September 25, to “smash all re-release records,” with advances he described as fantastic. That enthusiasm, he argues, makes a strong opening for Avengers: Doomsday “a foregone conclusion.” December, he says, will be “absolutely massive.”
- September 25: Avengers: Endgame: Encore
- This Friday: Primetime (PVR INOX Pictures)
- End of November: Mauja Hi Mauja with Akshay Kumar
- December: Avengers: Doomsday, Dune: Part Three, Jumanji: Open World, King
- Christmas: Neon’s Artificial (PVR INOX Pictures)
- Diwali week: Godzilla Minus Zero likely in the same window as Ramayana
- Eid 2027: Mr Salman Khan’s Monster
On the possible Godzilla-Ramayana collision, Gianchandani said the team will know for sure “within the next week or 10 days.” PVR INOX Pictures confirmed it will release Artificial in India.
Portfolio thinking over formula
Gianchandani was candid about forecasting risk. Surprise hits such as Laalo – Krishna Sada Sahaayate, Obsession and Hanuman Ansh keep outperforming even as some expected front-runners lag. “We approach this as a portfolio business,” he said; there is “no set formula” and every film deserves respect. For planners, that means budgeting with a spread, not a single title.
The 2026 Hollywood run is valuable context for release calendars, media budgets and exhibition strategy. The question is no longer whether Hollywood can pull audiences in India; it is whether the pipeline and event marketing can carry the market past the 2019 record.
Source: Bollywood Hungama
