Apr 10, 2026 3:12pm IST
‘Dhurandar 2’ Does All the Heavy-Lifting in India’s First Quarter Box-Office Performance
The Indian box office witnessed a rollercoaster ride in the first quarter of 2026. From big-budget colossal box-office disasters to surprise hits and all-time record-breaking earners, the January-March period had it all. The Q1 at the domestic box office concluded with a total of approx. ₹2576 crore net across Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam and English — reflecting both the dominance of certain industries and the shifting audience preferences across regions.
Bollywood — ₹1485.07 Crore (30 Films)
Hindi cinema dominated the quarter with ₹1485 crore net from 30 films, which accounts for approx 57% of the Indian box-office sum. Amid a sea of underperformers, it had a handful of box office successes like “Border 2” (329 crore net), “Mardaani 3” (₹52 crore net) and “The Kerala Story 2” (₹52 crore net). However, the film that uplifted Bollywood's status across the nation was Aditya Dhar and Ranveer Singh's “Dhurandhar: The Revenge,” which alone collected ₹900 crore (till its 13th day, March 31) — approx. 60% of the total collection of Hindi movies in the first quarter. The “Dhurandhar” sequel single-handedly ruled the quarter at the Indian box office and has gone past ₹1000 crore net till now.
Interestingly, “Dhurandhar”, which released on December 5 last year, also contributed nearly ₹117 crore net to this quarter since January 1, while James Cameron's “Avatar: Fire & Ash” added approx. ₹40 crores, leading the total box office revenue to cross ₹2700 crore net. While the big-budget films performed well, the medium and small-budget productions didn't get much commercial attraction as movies like “Assi,” “Do Deewane Seher Mein,” “O' Romeo,” “Tu Ya Main”, “Ikkis” and “Happy Patel” all vanished without making much noise at the box office.
Talking about the four major industries from the southern part of India: Tollywood (Telugu), Kollywood (Tamil), Kannada (Sandalwood) and Malayalam (Mollywood), their box office performances didn’t fulfil expectations in the first quarter of 2026.
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Telugu - ₹586.84 crore (37 Films)
While Telugu cinema emerged as the second-highest contributor, grossing ₹586.84 crore from 37 films, the industry faced two big disappointments at the box office. Prabhas-starrer “The Raja Saab” and Pawan Kalyan’s “Ustaad Bhagat Singh,” which were expected to be money spinners, turned out to be colossal flops at the ticket windows.
However, Chiranjeevi’s Sankranti release, “Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu,” emerged as a big savior by raking in ₹218 crore in the domestic market. Another film, “Anaganaga Oka Raju,” which was made on a modest budget, turned out to be a surprise hit with the collections of ₹54 crore.
With the arrival of Ram Charan’s “Peddi” and Akhil Akkineni’s “Lenin,” Tollywood might emerge as a huge winner in the second quarter.
Tamil - ₹264.15 crore (46 Films)
Kollywood has probably witnessed one of the worst first quarters in the past decade. While the infinite delay of Vijay's “Jana Nayagan” at the box office has made a big impact in Tamil Nadu, filmmaker Sudha Kongara and actor Sivakarthikeyan’s “Parasakthi” failed miserably at the box office by earning just ₹53 crore against its expensive budget.
Small heartland and coming-of-age stories turned out to be sleeper hits in the state, including “With Love” (₹28 crore), “Thaai Kizhavi” (₹62 crore), “Thalaivar Thambi Thalaimaiyil” (₹30 crore) and “Youth” (₹48.39 crore).
The second quarter is expected to be a redemption period for Kollywood with films like “Love Insurance Kompany,” “Kara,” “Karuppu” and probably “Jana Nayagan.”
Malayalam - ₹148 crore (58 Films)
Mollywood, which has been impressing audiences with its out-of-the-box and unconventional content and storytelling, did not manage to create an impact at the ticket windows in the first quarter.
Among the releases, Jayasurya-starrer “Aadu 3” collected close to ₹50 crore at the domestic box office and crossed the ₹100-crore mark globally. Other movies, which garnered warm response from the audiences, were Roshan Mathew's “Chatha Pacha”, earning over 35 crore and “Prakambanam”, collecting ₹21 crore.
The second quarter for Mollywood is expected to be a breakthrough period with films like “Patriot,” “Drishyam 3” and “Pallichattambi” set for grand release at the box office.
Kannada — ₹38.46 crore (47 Films)
The Kannada Film Industry also struggled in its first quarter, with only a handful of releases working at the box office. Among the theatricals, only three films managed to make a mark: Raj B Shetty's “Rakkasapuradhol” (₹5 crore), Duniya Vijay's “Landlord” (₹6 crore) and Darling Krishna’s “Love Mocktail 3” (₹12 crore).
With Dhruv Sarja’s “KD: The Devil” arriving on April 30, Kannada might get its first major hit of the year.
Hollywood — ₹53.52 Crore (26 Films)
Last year, Hollywood outperformed many Hindi movies released alongside them. That’s no longer the case this year as all the English movies released so far have been box-office flops. Out of 26 films, only Ryan Gosling’s “Project Hail Mary” has been successful, with all others, “Hoppers 3D”, “Scream 7,” “Wuthering Heights,” “Marty Supreme” and “28 Years Later”, failing to earn even ₹10 crore net at the Indian box office.
Overall, Q1 2026 ended on a note of cautious optimism. The data underscores a broader industry trend: fewer films are driving the majority of revenue, while many smaller releases struggle to make a significant impact. As the year progresses, it will be interesting to see whether regional industries can deliver bigger hits to offset this disparity and further diversify the box-office landscape.
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