Contrary to expectations, Thugs of Hindostan has crashed badly at the box-office. The star-studded magnum opus failed to attracts audiences and received terrible reviews from critics. Even Aamir Khan and Amitabh Bachchan’s star power couldn’t save this ship from sinking.
According to Filmfare, the film managed to collect a little over INR 143 crore, which is a long way below the predictions given by trade analysts before the film’s release.
As a result, the producers and exhibitors of the film are suffering heavy losses and are consequently facing mental trauma and severe depression. Exhibitors who bought the film out of trust on Aamir Khan and the YRF Brand felt cheated and let down. Reports suggest that only the sub-distributors of Yash Raj Films, who distributed the film on a commission basis, are at profit.
Since the production house distributed the film on a minimum guarantee deal, they have pocketed a heavy chunk of the profit. The report also reveals that the losses faced by the exhibitors are even higher than Salman Khan’s Tubelight and Shah Rukh Khan’s Jab Harry Met Sejal.
An exhibitor remarked, “We had lost a similar amount on Tubelight as well, however Salman Khan refunded us the money. We plan to approach our territory distributors to claim refund because we know that they have made ample monies from this film due to the minimum guarantee contracts. We hope our message reaches out to Aamir Khan and YRF, who will help us get back our money from the territory distributors.”
Another trade source said, that this scenario is different from films like Tubelight and Jab Harry Met Sejal because in those cases, the producers had made substantial profits. However this time around, even the producers have lost money and it is only the sub-distributors who have managed to earn some money as they entered into a several contracts with exhibitors.
While the exhibitors across the country have lost around 50 to 60% of their investments, the producers Yash Raj Films too have lost a substantial sum of their investment. However, they still stand a chance to enter into a break-even situation if the film performs well in China, where it will be released next month.
