Aug 01, 2026 7:00pm IST
‘Animal,’ ‘Pushpa 2,’ ‘Dhurandhar’: How The First Week of December Has Become An Important Release Window For Indian Films
Producers often book the festive and national holiday weekends like Eid, Diwali, Christmas, Independence Day and Republic Day for their tentpole films featuring big stars in India. While these release windows have often proved to be lucrative for Indian films, a non-holiday release window has been in demand due to its recent historic box office success.
This release period is the first week of December, which has delivered three blockbusters for consecutive years with “Animal” in 2023 (₹553.87 crore), “Pushpa 2” in 2024 (₹1234 crore) and “Dhurandhar” in 2025 (₹840.02 crore). In fact, in 2026, three films: Prabhas’s “Fauzi,” Ajay Devgn’s “Ranger” and Akshay Kumar’s untitled comedy film are clashing during this release window. So, what makes this slot so beneficial?
Uninterrupted Run Before Christmas
A film releasing three to four weeks before Christmas and New Year enjoys a free run at the ticket windows until the festive releases come in. Ranbir Kapoor’s ‘Animal’ had an uninterrupted run before Shah Rukh Khan’s “Dunki” and Prabhas’s “Salaar” arrived during the Christmas weekend. On the other hand, “Pushpa 2” and “Dhurandhar” maximized their collections in the first three weeks and continued to dominate during the festive and New Year weekends due to poor performances of new releases.
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No Festive Box Office Clashes
Unlike the festive period, this release window hardly sees two biggies battling for screens and collections at the ticket windows. This comparatively empty calendar results in the availability of more screens in metro cities as well as single tier-2 and tier-3 markets.
Availability of Premium Format and Screens
If there aren’t Hollywood biggies, Indian films secure premium screens, which generate higher ticket prices, contributing a major boost to collections.
Sweet Time For Word-of-mouth Effect
While the first week works because of stardom and hype, the second week’s performance is primarily measured by the audience’s recommendation and word-of-mouth, which translates into repeat viewing and a long-term run.
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