Indian cinemas took ₹4,443 crore ($464m) at the box office between July and September, the first time the market has passed ₹4,000 crore in a single quarter, according to PVR INOX. The country’s largest cinema chain gave the figure, based on Ormax Media and its own estimates, with its results on 28 October. Gross takings were up 23% on the same quarter of 2025. PVR INOX reports the period as the second quarter of its 2026–27 financial year. Dollar figures here use the ECB reference rates for 30 September 2026.
Key facts
- India gross box office, July to September 2026: ₹4,443 crore ($464m), up 23% (Ormax Media and PVR INOX estimates)
- April to September: ₹7,618 crore ($795m), up 22%
- English-language films: ₹1,024 crore ($107m) in the quarter, up 87%
- PVR INOX: 46.3 million admissions, up 4%; profit ₹273.3 crore ($28.5m), up 111%
- Biggest titles named by PVR INOX: Spider-Man: Brand New Day ₹608 crore, Hanuman Ansh ₹351 crore, Toxic ₹296 crore
Hollywood’s best quarter in India
The growth came mostly from imported films. English-language titles grossed ₹1,024 crore, nearly twice the same period last year and also a first above ₹1,000 crore for a quarter. Spider-Man: Brand New Day took ₹608 crore, which PVR INOX says makes it the highest-grossing English-language film ever in India. Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey added ₹233 crore, helped by demand for IMAX screens, and the Avengers: Endgame Encore re-release made ₹45 crore in four weeks.
Hindi films, including titles dubbed into Hindi, rose 12%. Hanuman Ansh grossed ₹351 crore and Mirzapur: The Movie, adapted from the streaming series, took ₹267 crore. Takings in other Indian languages also grew 12%, led by the Kannada film Toxic at ₹296 crore and the Tamil Jana Nayagan at ₹199 crore. In October, Jailer 2 overtook 2.0 as Tamil cinema’s top grosser.
PVR INOX: higher prices, more profit
For PVR INOX, the gains came more from prices than from attendance. The chain sold 46.3 million tickets, 4% more than a year earlier, and occupancy rose from 28.7% to 30.4%. The average ticket price went up 14% to ₹298, and spending on food and drink per head also rose 14%, to ₹153. Ticket revenue grew 18% to ₹1,160.4 crore and food and drink revenue 18% to ₹668.2 crore.
Excluding the effect of the Ind AS 116 lease accounting standard, total income rose 17% to ₹2,132.7 crore ($223m) and profit from continuing operations rose 111% to ₹273.3 crore. On the reported basis, profit was ₹263.1 crore. The company ended September with net cash of ₹140.7 crore after a ₹300 crore share buyback, and its board approved a policy to return about 30% of annual surplus cash flow to shareholders through dividends or buybacks, at the board’s discretion.
The chain ran 1,797 screens in 114 cities in India and Sri Lanka at the end of September. It plans 90 to 100 new screens in the year to March 2027, most of them in the second half and on capital-light terms. Its first SMART Cinemas site, a cheaper format for smaller cities, opened in Muzaffarpur, Bihar, in September; two or three more are planned this financial year.
The slate for the rest of the year includes Ramayana: Part One in November and Shah Rukh Khan’s King in December. More Indian box office reports and stories from India are on their own pages, alongside our box office coverage.
Our reading
The quarter shows two separate things. First, Indian audiences will pay more for the right film: PVR INOX grew ticket revenue by 18% on only 4% more admissions. Second, the record depended on two Hollywood titles. Spider-Man: Brand New Day and The Odyssey together account for nearly a fifth of the market’s gross, and Hindi and other Indian-language films grew at roughly half the overall rate.
The slate ahead is stronger on both fronts: Ramayana: Part One and King on the Hindi side, and The Hunger Games: Sunrise on the Reaping, Avengers: Doomsday, Dune: Part Three and Jumanji: Open World among the Hollywood titles PVR INOX lists for the coming months. The SMART Cinemas format is the more telling long-term bet. With occupancy at about 30%, the existing network still has plenty of empty seats, and cheaper screens in smaller cities are where the chain is looking for more admissions rather than higher prices.
Sources
- PVR INOX, press release ‘PVR INOX announces record results for the Quarter and Half Year ended September 30, 2026’, filed with NSE, 28 October 2026
- PVR INOX, Q2 FY27 investor update, filed with NSE, 28 October 2026 (revenue lines, screens, SMART Cinemas)
- The Hindu BusinessLine (Reuters), 28 October 2026
- Bollywood Hungama, 30 October 2026
- ECB euro reference rates, 30 September 2026 (INR 108.8205, USD 1.1355 per euro)