Hi there,

this is my first posting here, so hello everyone!

My problem: I love to follow the box-office figures and performances in India and am frustrated because the only two useful homepages reporting those figures seem to have gone out of business:

Ibosnetwork is dead since a long time (there was one single update in September, but that's about it) and since nearly a month, Boxofficeindia.com also went on hiatus. Does anybody here know why?

My main problem now is: Why does nearly no internet site report accumulative gross totals? Many sites only feature frustratingly useless thumbs up/thumbs down-ratings or other useless stuff. IndiaFm f. ex. reports the print averages which help nothing if you do not know the number of prints in use for a release.

The only site I found where I can get b.o. totals at the moment are the weekly b.o. reports of Planet Bollywood.

Now, I know that the situation in India is a little bit more complex and diffcult than, say, in the U.S., because there are dissenting figures, but why does nearly nobody feature at least some figures (I mean totals, not single city or single cinema reports)?

So, I would be really greatful if you could help me with these questions:

1. Does anybody know why Ibosnetwork and Boxofficeindia went out of business, or even better, if one of them will return?

2. Does anybody know a site which features b.o. totals on a regular basis (besides Planet Bollywood), please?

3. As the first two questions are meant for Hindi films only, is there any site reporting (in English language) the box office of the four South-Indian film industries in more detail than just a plain listing of the top five?

Thanks for your help in advance!

Regards,

--Oliver

Hi Shamrat,

thanks, but IndiaFM only reports single city collections and a print-average on a weekly basis, is there really no site reporting totals?

boxofficeindia.com is out of business? the site is up to date as far as i can see.

It's three weeks old. Check out the box-office chart which still lists "Hulchul" as No. 1.

And, normally, they update at least once a week, or even more often, when something important happens. After the release of "Veer-Zaara", they reported for some time on a nearly daily basis.

That's why I am concernd.

I have been wondering about 'boxofficeindia.com' which has not been updated since December 4th. I am glad that 'Oliver' started this thread, since I have been wondering if there was a problem with the cache on my computer or the cache on my ISP's server. I even tried deleting the cache on my computer since I thought that the page was not refreshing for some reason.

By the way I had even emailed the site regarding thsi, but I have not gotten any reply so far.

It's back 'ON' again.

http://www.boxofficeindia.com

http://www.boxofficeindia.com

BOXOFFICEINDIA CLASSIFICATIONS 2004

A111-All Time Blockbuster-

AAA-Super Duper Hit-

A11-Super Hit-

AA-Super Hit/Hit-

A1-Hit Murder Dhoom Veer Zaara

A-Semi Hit Hulchul Hum Tum Julie Main Hoon Na

BB-Above Average Mujhse Shaadi Karogi Masti

B1-Average Khakee Girlfriend Mughal E Azam(revived) Tauba Tauba

B-Below Average Hawas Garv Lakshya AK47(dubbed) Aitraaz Ab Tak Chhappan

2004 REPORT-A total of 19 films made money or recovered their costs out of 95 major hindi film releases for the year.

Yes, indeed!!

I wonder what the reason for the coma was.

Good to have them back.

After nearly five months, IBOS had an update today, too.

Not all sections have been updated as of yet, but it seems to be happening.

Well, problem solved.

Not quite 5 months.

Last update in 2004 was Dec 4.
Next update was January 18.

That makes it 5-6 weeks. Staff must have been on holidays??

With the 5 months I just meant the prominent chart on the page, which listed "Tauba Tauba" as the no.1 film for months.

It's very well possible that a site-update somewhere else was missed by me.

I don't belong to Boxofficeindia, nor am I defending them. Just what I recall.

I like their site and have been following it regularly. I like their way of unbiased reporting. I just wish they start reporting Overseas collections figures as well.

As far as I can recall (actually I'm pretty sure), BO collections chart was updated regularly (weekly) until Dec 4, 2004.

Tauba Tauba was released in the first week of October. Even if Tauba Tauba was # 1 in its 1st week, it would have been # 1 on Oct 8 report. We all know Dec 4, Tauba Tauba was not in the list.

I totally agree.

Now that we have both of them back and up & running, we have a new problem: Which figures are more reliable?

I guess nobody minds that IBOS reports the start of KISNA with Rs. 7.76 cr. and BOIndia with Rs. 7,97 cr., but take ELAAN: They disagree by a margin of nearly 2 cr!!
Though it's possible that BOIndia corrects it's figures, they reduced f.ex. the KISNA number twice already.

Which figures are more reliable?? Boxofficeindia did explain the reason behind this very well, at one time and may even still be there on one of their links?? That's why I like their figures and trust them more than others.

There are many factors. Some report Gross, some report net gross (difference of 30 to 40 %), some include/ exclude other factors including false reporting by theatres/ distributors, 'feeding' and various expenses. Boxofficeindia said that they try to get as accurate as possible and try to use same yard stick for their reporting.

In case of Kisna, there could be various factors for their correction.
First, distributors must have provided inflated #s for face saving. Secondly, there could be high uncertainty in BO collections when close to 1 cr (out of 8 cr) is collected for charity. Some figures may have it in their #s and some may exclude it.