Mumbai, July 1 (AHN) As the first half of 2026 wrapped up on 30th June, AHN reached out to veteran theatre owners of India to gauge the state of India’s theatre business and make sense of the box office numbers.

In an exclusive conversation with AHN, Manoj Desai, the owner of Gaiety Galaxy, one of the oldest theatres of India, analysed the performance of films released in the first half of 2026.

Shedding light on the recent performances of Bollywood movies, Manoj Desai revealed that the theatres are still struggling. He said that, except for a few movies such as 'Dhurandhar' and 'Border 2', not many movies have done great business at the ticket counters, which is not a good sign for the industry, as in the era of OTT, people are not too keen to come to the theatre.

He told AHN that with such a massive threat in the form of OTT, they feel glad even if a movie runs successfully for a week.

"Akshay Kumar's 'Welcome To The Jungle' could not sustain, even with such a massive star cast,' he said.

When asked what attracts the audience towards a movie, the star cast or content, he replied content.

Manoj Desai further added that music also plays a crucial role in connecting the viewers to a movie.

He also expressed his shock that South movies tend to perform well in Mumbai, as compared to Bollywood films.

However, Vishak Chauhan, a fourth-generation theatre owner from Purnia Bihar had a different opinion.

During an exclusive interaction with AHN, he shared that the first 6 months of 2026 have been fairly decent. He added that most of the movies that turned out to be a box office triumph, such as 'Dhurandhar', 'Border 2', 'Bhooth Bangla', and the latest 'Welcome To The Jungle' ended up working across the country.

He added that the makers are again shifting back to the universal cinema. Vishak stated that earlier, the industry was focused on the big cities, but now they are coming back, getting in touch with their roots yet again.

"They are making very basic films on basic subjects, and the treatment of their movies is also extremely grounded."

Vishak said that the most surprising success for them was 'Haunted', a sequel to Vikram Bhatt's movie of the same name.

He also talked about Imtiaz Ali's 'Main Vapas Aaunga,' which was targeted towards an elite multiplex audience. The theatre owner said that the movie also managed good box office numbers after its business picked up gradually.

"I think it is a very healthy scenario for movie theatres, exhibitors, distributors, producers, that people are ready to watch all kinds of cinema, all you need to do is make commercially viable movies," concluded Vishak.