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Yash-starrer Toxic: A Fairytale for Grown-Ups appears to be heading towards one of the biggest financial setbacks in Indian cinema, with industry estimates
suggesting that the film could incur losses of nearly Rs 300 crore. The film's poor theatrical performance has also severely affected the value of its digital rights. Directed by Geetu Mohandas, the film also stars Kiara Advani, Nayanthara, Huma Qureshi, Tara Sutaria, and Rukmini Vasanth in key roles. The poor performance is particularly surprising because Toxic was shot simultaneously in Kannada and English. The film was also dubbed in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. Despite being an original-language version, the English edition reportedly found very few takers in India and overseas.
Toxic English version crashes at box office
The English version of Toxic was released in India on September 4 across select cities. However, the film failed to attract audiences and earned just Rs 3.16 lakh during its first week, Bollywood Hungama reported. The English version opened with Rs 1.38 lakh on Friday from 11 shows across Mumbai, Bengaluru, Gurugram and Noida. Collections dropped to Rs 78,774 on Saturday and Rs 70,460 on Sunday, with no significant weekend growth.
The film’s performance deteriorated further during the weekdays. It earned Rs 15,034 on Monday, followed by a shocking Rs 3,125 on Tuesday. Collections marginally improved to Rs 5,699 on Wednesday before falling again to Rs 4,655 on Thursday.
The English version had a shorter runtime of 176 minutes and 52 seconds, or 2 hours, 56 minutes and 52 seconds. The other versions reportedly run for 194 minutes and 12 seconds, making them more than three hours long. However, this did not help the movie. The report further stated that due to the extremely poor response, the English version was discontinued from Friday, September 11. Its showcasing had already been reduced to a handful of shows, with Bengaluru being the only city screening it during the remaining weekdays.
Toxic could lose nearly Rs 300 crore
The film's overall financial performance is reportedly even more concerning than its box-office numbers. Toxic opened strongly, collecting more than Rs 125 crore worldwide on its first day. However, after facing rejection from audiences, the film's theatrical run will reportedly end at just over Rs 300 crore worldwide.
With an estimated production cost of around Rs 450 crore, Toxic ranks among the most expensive Indian films ever made. Once release and promotional expenses are included, the total investment is believed to have crossed Rs 500 crore. The film's financial model reportedly depended heavily on its non-theatrical rights. The makers allegedly received a digital offer of around Rs 150 crore before release but chose not to lock the deal, hoping that a successful theatrical run would increase the value of the rights.
That strategy appears to have backfired. Following the film's weak box-office performance, the reported value of its OTT rights has fallen to around Rs 30 crore. The digital and satellite rights are still said to be unsold, and the eventual recovery may be significantly lower than the original expectations.
The film did receive substantial amounts through theatrical rights, but these were reportedly refundable advances, meaning the producers continued to carry much of the financial risk.
One of the biggest losses in Indian cinema
Based on industry estimates, Toxic could lose close to Rs 300 crore, potentially making it one of the biggest financial disasters in Indian cinema. Earlier, films such as Game Changer and The Raja Saab were reported to have suffered losses of around Rs 200 crore.
The losses could rise further if Yash's full remuneration is included, especially since he is also one of the film's producers. However, the aforementioned figures remain approximate and are based on industry estimates. Final losses may vary depending on settlements, contractual arrangements, rights sales and undisclosed financial terms.
