Box-office failures turn producers wary; ambitious projects getting shelved
₹135.04 crore) and Radhe Shyam ( ₹151 crore), both starring Prabhas, Akshay Kumar’s Samrat Prithviraj ( ₹68.07 crore) and more recently Bade Miyan Chote Miyan ( ₹47.52 crore), Salman Khan’s Kisi Ka Bhai Kisi Ki Jaan ( ₹101.44 crore), Ranveer Singh’s ’83 ( ₹103.68 crore) and Cirkus ( ₹35.79 crore) and Shroff’s Ganapath ( ₹11.09 crore) and Heropanti 2 ( ₹24.91 crore), among others, proved to be disasters at the box office despite much hype and anticipation. Trade experts said there is caution on the part of both stars and makers who want the project to first seem feasible on paper before making announcements.
Mukesh Mehta, founder of southern production and distribution house E4 Entertainment, said a couple of films have been pushed back in Telugu as well, with renegotiation of star fees also taking place in the southern movie industries. Although, most top names like Mohanlal and Mammootty tend to co-produce their films.
“A lot of digital platforms feel they are not able to recover the fees paid to acquire movies. Plus, their release calendars for 2024 are already full, so many are only looking at acquiring films for 2025 now," Mehta explained.
Film distributor and exhibitor Sunny Khanna pointed out that a big gap lies between what stars demand as fees and what OTT platforms are willing to pay at the moment to acquire their films. “That explains why so many sequels are getting announced at the moment—from Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 to Housefull and Dhamaal," Khanna said, adding that in these cases, there is at least a guarantee of box office recovery since audiences are already familiar with the franchise and makers can play safe.Milestone Alert!
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