FICCI EY 2026 Report: Only 3,150 of India’s 19,500 pin codes have cinema halls; Andhra Pradesh lost a whopping 54 screens in 2025; UP, Maharashtra, Kerala, Haryana gained maximum new theatres

The FICCI EY 2026 Report is out and it offers detailed insights into the trends that shaped 2025 across film, exhibition, OTT, music, television, print and live events. In this article, we focus on the report’s observations and data regarding filmed entertainment and the exhibition sector.

The report stated that 1,972 films were released in cinemas across languages in 2025, including 270 dubbed films. This represents an 8% increase over 2024, when 1,823 films were released. Surprisingly, Tamil saw the highest number of releases with 315 films. Telugu followed with 313 films released in 2025, while Kannada cinema produced 267 flicks. Hindi came fourth, with 226 Bollywood films trying their luck in cinemas, followed by Malayalam cinema (203 films).

The number of dubbed films increased from 204 in 2024 to 270 in 2025. According to the report, two-thirds of all dubbed films originated from South India. As for Hollywood, 120 English films were released in India. It’s a significant number and proves that India is a key market for Hollywood.

Even today, theatrical box office revenue forms an important chunk of the total income. The report revealed that domestic theatrical revenues comprised 63% of total income, followed by digital/ OTT revenues (14%). Meanwhile, broadcast rights of satellite rights fell from 12% in 2019 to 6% in 2025.

OTT rights values dropped to 8% due to “the consolidation of OTT platforms, the shutdown of a few regional platforms and tighter control over OTT platform profitability”. The report further informed readers that 500 films were released on OTT platforms in 2025, of which only 30 were direct-to-digital releases. This number is down from 60 direct OTT films in 2024.

On the other hand, overseas theatrical revenue was less than 20% of domestic theatrical revenues. Interestingly, Indian films reached a record 40 countries this time. The number of films from the country released overseas was 390, up from 359 films across 38 countries in the previous year.

Exhibition sector trends
As per the report, India had a total of 10,033 screens in 2025. The screen count increased by just 1%, with South Indian states registering a 1% decline and the rest of India recording 3% growth. In other words, 240 screens were added during 2025 while 124 screens, mainly single-screen theatres, shut down. The report made a shocking observation, “Industry discussions indicate that in Hindi-speaking states, some towns now open screens only for a few days a week or when there are major film releases”.

The report then said that only 3,150 of India’s 19,500 pin-codes have cinema halls. The screen density in India is 6.8 screens per million population. This is extremely low compared to the USA (109), the UK (66), France (95) and China (64).

Another challenge, besides a smaller number of theatres, is “digitizing ticketing and data collection processes”. The report explains, “Some single-screen, rural and small-scale theatre chains still rely on manual tickets and data submissions, raising credibility issues around box office data and potentially impacting tax collections”.

At two places, it hinted at the practice of self-buying of tickets. It said, “Industry discussions indicate that transparency in film exhibition remains low in certain pockets of India, particularly smaller towns and South Indian states, with under-declaration of ticket sales occurring through excess ticketing and unofficial premiums during the initial days of highly anticipated releases”.

It also said “The rising cost of visiting cinemas, compared to watching films on online platforms and TV, led to a trend of cinemagoers waiting for reviews and word-of-mouth feedback before opting for the theatrical experience. In some cases, this heightened reliance on early reviews was accompanied by instances of bulk ticket purchases and concerns around the credibility of certain reviews”.

The writers of the report made a prediction that “We expect that lower-cost cinemas will be built through partnerships with the government to use their land, bus stands, train stations, airports, etc”. It also gave an interesting idea – “For smaller towns and villages, bundling cinema screens with community health centers, municipal office and other public infrastructure could pave the way for the next 150 million Indians to experience the theatre”.

Towards the end, the FICCI EY 2026 Report featured a political map of India, showing the number of screens in each state and whether the theatre count rose or fell in 2025 in those days.

The southern states usually have more screens and a stronger cinema-going culture than the rest of India. Yet, Andhra Pradesh emerged as the worst-hit state, with a whopping 54 screens shutting down in 2025, followed by Karnataka, which lost 29 cinemas. The total number of screens in these states now stands at 1,046 and 835, respectively. Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh gained the maximum new theatres (30), followed by Haryana (29), Kerala (27) and Maharashtra (26).

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