Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 winning on profitability over Singham Again before release. Can the clash grow audiences?
This Diwali, two of Bollywood’s most-anticipated films are set to lock horns at the box office: Anees Bazmee’s horror-comedy Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 and Rohit Shetty’s action-packed Singham Again. Both films are securing major non-theatrical deals, creating a pre-release buzz that gives us a sense of which movie might emerge victorious even before it hits theatres.
Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 has locked a hefty ₹135 crore deal, covering its satellite, digital, and music rights. Netflix secured the digital rights, Sony took over the satellite distribution, and the music rights remained with T-Series. Considering the film’s ₹150 crore production budget, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 has almost recouped its costs ahead of its theatrical release, with only ₹15 crore left to break even. This would imply on the 1st day of the film’s release itself it will turn profitable for Bhushan Kumar of T Series.
On the other hand, Singham Again has secured an impressive ₹200 crore from its non-theatrical deals, which include satellite, digital, and music rights as has been reported over the last few days. Whilst this puts the film in a strong financial position, however, the film is also one of the most expensive films of the year with an estimated ₹ 350 to ₹ 375 crore production budget. The digital rights were reportedly acquired by Amazon Prime, and the satellite rights are with Star Network, making this a record-breaking deal for a Bollywood action franchise.
A film’s profitability is as much about its theatrical and non-theatrical recovery as it is about costs. Trade pundits are already speculating on which of the two films has larger pressure going into their simultaneous release on the 1st of November 2024.
From a pre-release financial perspective, Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 emerges as the safer bet, having covered nearly all its production costs before even hitting the screens.
The final winner will be decided once both films hit theatres on November 1, 2024. Can these two films capture the imagination of their fans and rather than compete together grow the audience like we have seen with 2 Hollywood films last year Oppenheimer and Barbie.
Also Read: SCOOP: Theatrical trailer of Bhool Bhulaiyaa 3 to be unveiled on October 6
