It looks like December will bring more cheer than expected this year for Bollywood as the strong line-up of films is expected to contribute significantly to box office collections.

According to film trade analyst Atul Mohan, box office collections for 2019 till November end has gone up 22 percent compared to earnings for the whole of 2018. And December contributions will take it up to 35 percent.

This month, Bollywood will be offering six ventures including Pati Patni aur Woh, Panipat, The Body, Mardani 2, Dabangg 3 and Good Newwz. The expectation is that these films could add collections to the tune of around Rs 500 to 600 crore to the box office.

Last year, due to fewer releases in December, Bollywood could gather around Rs 400 crore with two successful ventures including Ranveer Singh’s Simmba and Sara Ali Khan-starrer Kedarnath. But Shah Rukh Khan’s Zero turned out to be a disappointment as the film saw a dismal collection despite no competition and releasing close to December 25 holiday.

In 2017 again, only two films turned out successful out of four films that released in December. Salman Khan’s Tiger Zinda Hai and Fukrey Returns together earned close to Rs 420 crore.

But this year the line-up of Bollywood ventures looks strong with a mix of big and small films, a mix that worked the entire year resulting in 2019 becoming the best year for both Bollywood and the film industry.

Talking to Moneycontrol, Mohan shared the year-on-year growth Bollywood has seen in recent times. “In 2017, the box office collection was around Rs 3,010 crore which went up to Rs 3,300, a jump of 10 percent. This year until November, we have crossed Rs 4,000 crore and December has impressive lineup so if we do a minimum of Rs 500 crore so that would bring the overall earnings to Rs 4,500 crore,” he explained.

A year-on-year comparison of the last five years shows that this year the growth in box office earnings has been the highest. And December with a combination of comedy, action, history, thriller genres will keep the audiences on the edge of their seats.