While earlier reports pointed to geopolitical instability in the Middle East impacting box office markets which have been a stronghold for Yash’s KGF films we had already told you everything last year from re shoots to Yash himself directing Toxic well before anyone else and now fresh industry insights reveal deeper concerns at play.
What really happened in a few days ?
Early performance in the US market has raised serious concerns Toxic struggled to build strong buzz in North America especially when compared to Dhurandhar. This gap clearly reflects Toxic slower overseas traction particularly in the key North American circuit where Yash pan Indian pull was expected to make a strong impact but ultimately underperformed.
Telugu – $11314 – 496 tics – 140 shows.
Kannada – $6237 – 298 tics – 87 shows
794 tickets
150 locations.
The producers of Toxic are claiming that the postponement is due to Gulf War issues, but the real reason is that they would have suffered significant losses in the Hindi market if it had clashed with Dhurandhar 2. They were aware of this risk but chose to postpone only after reviewing the US pre-sales figures.
However the clash did generate buzz for Toxic, and that seems to be the only positive outcome from the situation.
Anil Thadani had been fighting with distributors for quite some time to secure proper shows and screens for Toxic in the Hindi circuit, whether it was during Raja Saab or even around Border 2. It often seemed as if he was desperate when it came to Toxic.
Made on a 600 crore budget, the Hindi belt was as crucial to Toxic as water is to a fish. In front of Dhurandhar 2, Anil Thadani, the North distributor of Toxic, was demanding a 50 50 ratio, which the distributors clearly refused. That is the reason this decision was taken to save the film from suffering a major loss.
But the elephant in the room remains the fear of a direct box office clash with Dhurandhar The Revenge. Even though Yash sounded confident at first and said he was not threatened and was upset that the other team did not coordinate release dates and the early overseas numbers were not very encouraging.
Dhurandhar backed by the huge success of its first part was looking strong in advance bookings and opening weekend buzz. So, a direct clash could have divided the audience and hurt Toxic performance in important markets.