By Rajesh Naidu
Copyright indiatimes
Representative image.
Hollywood films have emerged handsome winners in 2025 outshining mainstream Bollywood films in the Indian box office. And the big hitters have been F1, Mission Impossible—The Final Reckoning, Jurassic World Rebirth and the latest, The Conjuring: The Last Rites.Interestingly, in this smooth ride of Hollywood films in 2025, The US-based Warner Bros. Pictures saw its market share in the India collection jump two times in 2025.“The right balance of mid-and-small and big films across diverse genres has worked for us,” said Denzil Dias, VP and managing director, India Theatrical, Warner Bros. Discovery, the parent company of Warner Bros. Pictures.Till date, in 2025, Hollywood films have collected more than Rs 862 crore in India, half of that for Warner Bros. movies, accounting for 24% in 2024.“We want to build an audience base. They will come for blockbuster films. But we also want mid-and-small-budget to work in theatres,” said Dias of Warner Bros. Discovery.Live EventsDias stressed that after the pandemic audiences have become selective in their theatrical outings, making filmmaking far more serious and responsible affair. “But the silver lining is that audiences are willing to pay a premium price to watch good films in theatres,” he added.In 2025, Warner Bros. Pictures films such as F1, Final Destination Bloodlines, Superman, Weapons, Minecraft, Dune Part Two, Sinners and The Conjuring: Last Rites have performed noticeably well in India, taking the cumulative collection of its films to Rs 432 crore till date.“For us, film distribution and marketing are not just about releasing films in the right theatres and getting the right number of shows. It is also about releasing films in the right language,” explained Dias. “We were clear about releasing Jurassic World Rebirth in dubbed Hindi version. Today, 40% of our collection in India came from the Hindi dubbed version of the film,” he shared. Universal Pictures, which distributed Jurassic World Rebirth, has a tie-up with Warner Bros. Picture to distribute films in India.Two things have worked well for Warner Bros. Pictures. The studio has taken bold calls by backing mid-and-small originals such as Weapons and Companion, which paid off. Another aspect is handling of its franchise films.Top Five hits for Warner Bros. Pictures (Rs crore)Film India CollectionF1: THE MOVIE125THE CONJURING: LAST RITES100FINAL DESTINATION BLOODLINES74.1SUPERMAN59.5MINECRAFT15.6WEAPONS11.3“Ultimately only storytelling works and audiences smell a good film promptly. We have nurtured our franchise films. We identified filmmakers who were passionate about our franchise films. So, they made these films like a fan, which worked for these films,” Dias said.In India, Warner Bros. Pictures has been collaborating with local influencers to review their films in Hindi which helped market their films well and reach a wide audience. “We must understand what the audience wants. We sensed an opportunity in audiences’ resonance with games-related IPs. That is how the idea of the Minecraft movie germinated,” pointed Dias.In the coming months, the studio has two distinct releases: One Battle After Another and Bugonia. “Today, even a small film like Bugonia can be an event film if it brings like-minded people into theatres,” explained Dias.Dias is quite optimistic about the performance of Hollywood films in India in the coming months. “India is a movie-loving country. This is a big positive. It is about being authentic by creating right awareness and good stories. Audiences largely reward such an authentic approach,” he said.Add as a Reliable and Trusted News Source Add Now!
(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)
Read More News onWarner Bros India collectionHollywood films in India2025 Hollywood movie hitsDenzil Dias Warner BrosIndian box office 2025Warner Bros PicturesWarner Bros Discoverydenzil dias
(Catch all the Business News, Breaking News, Budget 2025 Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.) Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online….moreless
(You can now subscribe to our Economic Times WhatsApp channel)Read More News onWarner Bros India collectionHollywood films in India2025 Hollywood movie hitsDenzil Dias Warner BrosIndian box office 2025Warner Bros PicturesWarner Bros Discoverydenzil dias(Catch all the Business News, Breaking News, Budget 2025 Events and Latest News Updates on The Economic Times.) Subscribe to The Economic Times Prime and read the ET ePaper online….moreless
