Small-town cinemas see a boom from blockbusters, but can Bollywood deliver enough hits to sustain the momentum?

Two recent blockbusters—Dhurandhar and Border 2, which earned ₹894 crore and ₹354 crore at the box office, respectively—helped boost business for tier-two and tier-three town cinemas by at least 20 percent over last year. However, the big challenge for theatre owners in the smaller markets is whether Bollywood can supply mass-market movies that can sustain this momentum through the year.

Hopes are pinned on Dhurandhar 2 and Salman Khan-starrer Battle of Galwan.“Films like Dhurandhar and Border 2 have done better in tier-two and tier-three towns than metros, where the crowd is slightly more upmarket and sophisticated and may not take as well to action and violence,” said Satwik Lele, chief operating officer at MuktaA2 Cinemas.Smaller town audiences are now receptive to all kinds of films, which Lele said gives hope to exhibitors. Last year, romantic drama Saiyaara ( ₹337.78 crore) and the dubbed Hindi version of mythological epic Mahavatar Narsimha ( ₹182.83 crore) found favour with small-town audiences, making the past few months particularly lucrative for these markets.Experts, though, have often lamented the lack of stories that speak to tier-two and tier-three audiences, particularly families and older viewers.

Recent hits have resonated only with metro audiences. Sports drama F1: The Movie, starring Brad Pitt, was a big draw in the bigger multiplexes last year, with its theatrical run bolstered by showcasing in premium formats such as Imax that took box office collections to ₹102.22 crore.

However, this was not true of markets beyond these premium properties.The nationalist narrative typically works well in small towns, exhibitors said. Hits like Dhurandhar and Border 2 benefited from impressive production values,