Is Yash's 'Toxic' India's costliest flop yet?
What's the story
The Kannada-English film Toxic, starring Yash, has been struggling at the box office. The movie was expected to join the ₹1,000 crore club but is now finding it hard to even cross ₹350 crore. After a record-breaking opening day with earnings of ₹101 crore net in India and a worldwide gross of ₹145 crore, the film's collections fell drastically due to negative reviews and bad word-of-mouth publicity. The production has now become one of the biggest disasters.
Earnings decline
'Toxic' earned just ₹60 lakh across India on September 9
The film's earnings dropped to just ₹37 crore net on the second day, and by the first Monday, it was earning in single digits. The release of Hanuman Ansh and Mirzapur: The Movie further affected its box office performance.
By Wednesday (Day 15), Toxic's earnings had reduced to just ₹60 lakh across India, with a worldwide gross of less than ₹1 crore, a significant drop from its earlier daily gross of around ₹150 crore.
Financial analysis
'Toxic' budget and current standing
As of Thursday, Toxic has earned ₹247.95 crore net in India and $4.5 million overseas, bringing its worldwide gross to ₹339 crore.
However, these figures are disappointing for a film of Toxic's scale.
The exact budget was never disclosed, but estimates range from ₹500 crore to ₹1,000 crore.
Even with the lowest estimate, Toxic is around ₹230 crore short of its break-even point in net box office earnings, per Hindustan Times.
Comparison
'Toxic' is now a bigger flop than 'Adipurush'
The shortfall in Toxic's earnings is the highest for a major Indian film, surpassing the ₹220 crore loss faced by Prabhas's Adipurush in 2024.
Adipurush managed around ₹330 crore net on a ₹550 crore budget. This makes Toxic, on paper, a bigger flop than even Adipurush, which was widely criticized.
The film also stars Nayanthara, Kiara Advani, Huma Qureshi, and Rukmini Vasanth, and was released on August 26.