Box office methodology

Every collection figure on Films Discourse follows the same rules, so a number on one page means the same thing on every other page. This page explains those rules.

India nett and India gross

India nett is what cinemas in India collect from ticket sales after GST is taken out. It is the figure the Indian film trade usually quotes, and it is our main figure: daily collections, totals, records, Top 10 lists and verdicts all use India nett unless a page says otherwise.

India gross is the same ticket sales with GST included, which is closer to what audiences actually paid. GST on cinema tickets is 18% on tickets priced above ₹100 and 12% on tickets at ₹100 or less. When a gross figure is reported to us or comes from our own tracking, we use it as it is. When only nett is known, we estimate gross by adding 18%, and we say the figure is estimated.

All rupee figures are in ₹ crore (1 crore = 10 million) unless marked as lakh (1 lakh = 100,000).

Overseas and worldwide

Overseas is what a film collects outside India. It is reported in the currency of each market or in US dollars, so we show the US dollar figure where we have it and the rupee figure as reported.

Worldwide gross is India gross plus overseas gross. If a film's overseas figure isn't known yet, we show India gross in its place and mark the worldwide figure as incomplete, so worldwide is never shown below India.

Live, estimated and final figures

• Advance booking figures are tickets sold and money collected for shows that haven't happened yet, from our own tracking. They are not collections: they grow until the shows begin.
• Live collection figures add up shows that have already played during the day, updated as the day goes on. The time of the latest update is shown next to every live figure. A live figure counts on a film's page until the final figure for that day is entered.
• Estimates are figures we work out ourselves, such as gross from nett or All India from tracked cities. They are labelled as estimates.
• Final figures are the day's settled numbers, entered once complete information is in. They replace live and estimated figures for that day.

A film's day 1 is its release date. Paid previews shown before release are listed separately and not counted as day 1. The opening weekend runs from release day to the first Sunday, and the first week is days 1 to 7.

Totals and records

A film's total India nett adds up its day-by-day figures. Once a film's run has ended, its final lifetime figure is used. Records and Top 10 lists rank films by India nett, except the worldwide list, which ranks by worldwide gross. For films dubbed into Hindi, the website can show their Hindi figures only, and the film page says so.

Verdicts

A verdict (Disaster, Flop, Below Average, Average, Above Average, Hit, Superhit, Blockbuster, All-Time Blockbuster) is our editorial judgement of how a film did commercially. It is based on the film's India nett compared with its reported cost and the expectations it opened with, and is given once the run has gone far enough to judge. Verdicts can be updated as the run continues. "Hits or better" on actor and director pages counts Hit, Superhit, Blockbuster and All-Time Blockbuster.

When numbers change

Box office numbers firm up over days and weeks. When better information arrives, we update the figure and the page shows when it was last updated. If you think a figure is wrong, please report it.

Where the numbers come from is explained on our data sources & estimation page. Terms used here are explained in the box office glossary.