Box office is the primary factor used to determine whether a film is a hit or a flop. In the post-pandemic era, the film industry is struggling to revive its business to its full potential. What was working exceptionally well in pre-COVID times is now facing disastrous consequences. There are many mid-range films with A-list starcasts, which might have done wonders at that time, but they are not finding any takers in theatres. In such a situation, when the film industry is trying hard to stand up again and bring its lost business back on track, some film producers are putting their every stake in the box office clash.

Box office clashes are nothing new. Sometimes it becomes inevitable when filmmakers are left with no option but to confront. However, there are many instances when you have a lot of release dates free, yet stakeholders choose to clash at the box office to come on a festive date.

If we only talk about 2025, Hrithik Roshan and Jr NTR’s War 2 clashed with Rajinikanth’s Coolie on the Independence Day weekend, Sunny Sanskaari’s Tulsi Kumari faced Kantara: Chapter 1 on the Gandhi Jayanti-Dussehra weekend, and most recently, Ek Deewane Ki Diwaniyat clashed with Thamma on the Diwali weekend. Of these three recent clashes, only two films, Kantara Chapter: 1 and Ek Deewane Ki Deewaniyat, managed to get a clean hit verdict at the Hindi box office. All else failing, Thamma is still running in theatres, fighting for the success tag.

The box office clash eventually leads to split screens, affecting the business of all projects releasing in the same weekend. If these films had avoided clashes and opted for a single release date, their box office pictures would have been different.

There have been many Fridays which remained blank and no important films were released in theaters this year. This highlights the need for effective calendar planning of the industry. October 2025 sees two clashes at the box office, with the producers having three other open options. A similar case was seen in August 2025 and September 2025 also. When War 2 and Coolie faced off, there were two vacant Friday options available. In September 2025, Baaghi 4, The Conjuring: Last Rites and The Bengal Files all released on the same date, when they could have planned it better.

And now, Maddock Films’s Ikkis and Dharma Productions’ Tu Meri Main Tera Main Tera Tu Meri are all set to clash with each other on Christmas 2025, when there are several vacant dates available for the release window from November to December. Interestingly, Tu Meri Main Tera Main Tera Tu Meri was scheduled to release on 31 December, and was postponed to 25 December to clash with Ikkis, thereby pushing back a solo date. This raises a question – was this conflict really necessary?

Time and again, films like Baahubali: The Beginning, Baahubali: The Conclusion, Avengers: Endgame, Jaawaan, Animal, Syara and others have proven that a film does not need a festival release date to become a box office sensation. What it needs is to deliver content first, have strong belief in your story, and not focus on festival release windows to capitalize on your weak or half-baked projects.

One should try to secure a festival window, as this maximizes buzz and can boost business, but not at the cost of clashing with another equally important film. The industry needs to come together and support each other at a time when business has already reached a new low. Instead of ignoring the empty regular Fridays and clashing at the box office, they should plan their releases more thoughtfully so that every film gets a chance to shine and woo the audience with its content without sharing the screen and dividing the earnings.

Avoiding conflicts and carefully planning the release calendar may not yield immediate results, but it has the chance to work in the long run, which will ultimately help the industry revive lost business.

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