HT Rewind 2024: How Indian horror films ruled the box office this year, collectively earned more than even Pushpa 2

Here's a look at how horror genre had back to back hits in 2024 and ruled the Indian box office.

The year 2024 started slow for Indian films regarding box office collection. While big hits like Kalki 2898 AD and Pushpa 2 The Rule breached the ₹1000-crore mark at the box office, several highly anticipated films like Kanguva and Indian 2 disappointed the audience. However, the horror genre entertained the audience with back-to-back hits from Shaitaan to Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 and even ruled at the box office. (

Here's how the horror-genre ruled at the Indian box office.

Bramayugam

Mammootty’s period folk horror and thriller film Bramayugam gave the horror genre the perfect kickstart in February. Helmed by Rahul Sadasivan and starring Mammootty, Arjun Ashokan, and Sidharth Bharathan, the film contains elements of sacred mystery, myth, and folklore of Kerala. It was released in black-and-white format and still managed to captivate the audience.

The film opened to a positive response from the critics and the audience and became a box office success in no time. Against a budget of ₹30 crore, the film earned ₹58.2 crore at the box office and became one of the highest-grossing Malayalam films of 2024.

Shaitaan

Ajay Devgn, Jyotika, and R Madhavan’s Shaitaan continued the success streak forward. The film, released in March, marked Jyotika’s Bollywood comeback. R Madhavan played the villain in the film and stole the limelight. Helmed by Vikas Bahl, the supernatural horror thriller film is the adaptation of the 2023 Gujarati film Vash.

The film revolves around a family that finds itself in trouble when their daughter falls under the spell of black magic cast by a stranger. They set out to stop the possession and uncover the stranger's motives. The film took a decent opening and earned ₹14.75 crore on the day. The positive word of mouth led to an increase in the box office collection, and ultimately, the film earned ₹213 crore at the box office worldwide.

Munjya

This was followed by another small-budget horror film that surprised the audience with its content and box office collection. Munjya was the film with no major star power but still managed to breach the ₹100-crore mark. The most interesting part about the movie was that the titular character was entirely created using CGI.

Produced by Amar Kaushik and Dinesh Vijan under Maddock Films, it is the third installment in the Maddock Supernatural Universe and focuses on the legend of Munjya, inspired by Indian folklore and mythology. The film, starring Sharvari, Abhay Verma, Sathyaraj, and Mona Singh, came very silently to the theatres, however, later emerged as a sleeper hit. The film earned ₹125 crore against a budget of ₹30 crore. Even the songs of the film, Tainu Khabar Nahi and Taras became chartbusters.

Stree 2

Then came the highly-anticipated film that became the highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2024. The film that broke several records, and made everyone laugh while scaring them off, is Stree 2. The fourth installment in the Maddock Supernatural Universe and sequel to the 2018 hit Stree, is also one of the most-loved films of 2024.

The film stars Rajkummar Rao, Shraddha Kapoor, Pankaj Tripathi, Abhishek Banerjee, and Aparshakti Khurana as a group of friends who must defeat Sarkata, a headless malevolent entity abducting the women of Chanderi.

Stree 2 entered the ₹200-crore club in just four days becoming the fastest film in the horror-comedy genre to achieve this feat. The film opened to such positive responses that its second-day collection surpassed Jawan, Animal, Gadar 2, and even Baahubali 2 The Conclusion. The horror-comedy earned ₹857 crore at the box office worldwide.

Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3

The horror genre's success streak in India didn’t stop there. Diwali, the festival of lights, came as a surprise for moviegoers. Kartik Aaryan, Vidya Balan, and Madhuri Dixit’s Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 entertained the audience, and despite its clash with Rohit Shetty’s multi-starrer Singham Again, the film emerged to be a major box office success.

The film marked Kartik Aaryan’s biggest opener of his career till now and gave tough competition to Singham Again, ultimately beating its lifetime collection with its dream run at the box office. The film earned ₹389 crore at the box office, emerging at the second highest-grossing Bollywood film of 2024.

Aranmanai 4

Tamannaah Bhatia and Raashii Khanna’s horror comedy film, directed and written by Sundar C, also contributed to the success of the horror genre. The film earned magical numbers at the box office to secure a place in the list of the highest-grossing Tamil films of 2024.

Earning ₹98 crore at the box office worldwide, according to Sacnilk, the film beat Suriya’s Kanguva and Vikram’s Thangalaan to become the seventh highest-grossing Tamil film of 2024. The film received immense love from the audience.

Tumbbad

Not only this, the Indian cinema saw a trend of re-releasing old films this year. While many films like Veer Zara, Kal Ho Naa Ho, and Gangs of Wasseypur among others re-released in theatres, there was this one film that beat its original run in just a week upon re-release. The folk horror film, Tumbbad, directed by Rahi Anil Barve, re-released in September this year and managed to change its status from a flop to a hit.

The film earned ₹12.65 crore in its original run. However, upon re-release, the film managed to attract the audience to the theatres and collected its lifetime collection in just a week. The film trumped all other re-releases at the box office. It managed to turn the tables and also crossed the ₹50-crore gross mark ( ₹52.25 crore) at the worldwide box office.

If we add the worldwide collection of all the Indian horror films released in 2024, the total adds up to ₹1740 crore (excluding Tumbbad’s collection), which is even more than what Allu Arjun’s Pushpa 2 The Rule has earned so far or what Prabhas, Deepika Padukone and Amitabh Bachchan’s Kalki 2898 AD managed ( ₹1042 crore).