Like the previous many years, in 2023, Pakistani cinema was in the grip of a severe crisis, but it would be more appropriate to say that it would not be wrong if it turned out to be the most disappointing year of the last decade.
The year 2023 was the worst not only for the Pakistani film industry but also for the cinema industry. The overall economic and political situation of the country affected the entertainment industry the most. Hollywood and Indian Punjabi films released in Pakistan also did not do enough business. Only Carry On Jatta 3, among Indian Punjabi films, did blockbuster business.
In Hollywood movies Barbie, Oppenheimer, Mission Impossible, Fast X, Evil Dead Rises, Meg 2, The Nun 2, Insidious, Jon Wick Chapter 4, Guardians of the Galaxy Volume: III, The Equalizer 3, Transformers, Ant-Man, The Expendables, and The Exorcist, certainly created a stir at the box office, but the failure of some of the biggest Hollywood franchises in Pakistan surprised trade analysts.
Films like Blue Beetle, The Flash, Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, The Hunger Games, Killers of the Flower Moon, Indiana Jones, Napoleon, The Creator, The Marvels, Shazim, and Creed 3, set worldwide business records. faced the worst failure at the Pakistani box office.
As far as Pakistani films are concerned, except for a few films, most of them went out of theaters within a week.
A total of 19 Urdu, 8 Punjabi, and 6 Pashto films were released this year.
In Punjabi films, Rang Ishke Da, Shot Cut, Super Punjabi, Lade Da Viyaah, Ishtihari Dogar, Babra Gujjar, and Bashira Gujjar did not do enough business. Only one film, Lahore Qalandar, managed to run for a few weeks.
In Urdu movies, Money Back Guarantee, Daadal, Dorr, Hoye Tum Ajnabi, John, Kukri, Madari, Aar Paar, VIP, Babylicious, Combative, 13, In Flames, Dhai Chaal, Gunjal, and Chikkar, have created clouds of disappointment at the box office.
In the entire year, only one film, Teri Meri Kahaniyaan, could stay in cinemas for a few weeks, but even this film did not recover its cost from the box office.
Allahyar and the Hundred Flowers of God, the first 3D animated film made in Pakistan, also failed to capture the attention of moviegoers.
An attempt to digitize and re-release the sci-fi horror movie Sarkata Insan, released in the nineties, also failed.
According to a conservative estimate, an investment of Rs 800 million was made on Pakistani films to be released in 2023, out of which barely Rs 100 million has been recovered. Thus 700 million rupees of filmmakers have sunk.
Considering these statistics, the morale of filmmakers will be low in 2024, but there are some projects in the pipeline, from which it is hoped that 2024 will prove to be better than the previous year.
- MCB Bank, PITB and Mastercard to collaborate on PayZenand Enhance Digital Payment Landscape in Pakistan
- Arts Council pays tribute to Sultana Siddiqui for her excellence in the media Industry
- A significant revelation about the marriage of Humayun Saeed and Samina
- Coke Studio season 15 releases “blockbuster”
- The importance of the RAILBUS for the city of Karachi.
Among the projects that the entire film trade is keenly eyeing in the new year are Shoaib Mansoor’s Aasmaan Bolay Ga, Azfar Jaffrey’s Umro Ayyar- A New Beginning, Amar Rasool’s Niloofar, Umair Nasir Ali’s Nayab, Hasan Zia’s Wrong Number 3, Nabeel Qureshi’s Directed Next, and With Wajahat Ruff’s untiled, it is hoped that these projects will succeed in breaking the box office stalemate.