In 2017, going gets tough for Bollywood as star power fades at box office

Revenue from theatres in first seven months fell 19% to Rs 823 cr from same period last year

Bollywood’s dream merchants are losing their magic touch. In the first seven months of this year, domestic net box office collections (NBOC) of the top 10 Bollywood movies in terms of revenues from theatres — excluding the dubbed Hindi version of Baahubali 2 — fell by over 19 per cent from Rs 1,022 crore in 2016 to Rs 823 crore in 2017.

In 2016, producers forked out Rs 525 crore to make the top 10 movies but made up nearly double the amount from domestic NBOC. Of course, much of it was owing to the success of Salman Khan’s Sultan.