'War 2' to suffer ₹60 crore loss, surpassing 'Thugs' debacle
What's the story
The latest addition to the Yash Raj Films (YRF) Spy Universe, War 2, is reportedly set to leave the production house with a staggering loss of around ₹60-70 crore. This comes after the film's disappointing box office performance despite being mounted on a massive budget of ₹450 crore. The film stars Hrithik Roshan and Jr NTR and is directed by Ayan Mukerji.
Box office performance
'War 2's box office performance
The film was expected to be a major success, following the successful releases of Pathaan and Tiger 3 in 2023. However, according to a Bollywood Hungama source, "Around ₹150 crore has been recovered from the sale of digital, satellite, and music." "The theatrical share in the best-case scenario from here will be ₹140 crore from the worldwide box office." "This means YRF is set to lose approximately. ₹60 to 70 crore on War 2."
Franchise setback
Impact on YRF's future projects
The source added that this is YRF's biggest disaster in recent times, alongside Aamir Khan's Thugs of Hindostan. For context, Khan's movie was reportedly made on a budget of ₹310cr, and it made ₹327.51cr worldwide as per Sacnilk, barely recouping their massive investments. "The Monday numbers have come down crashing, and it's the death of the franchise at this point in time." "In fact, the failure of War 2 has also impacted the future spyverse slate of YRF."
Distributor's loss
Losses for the Telugu distributor
Apart from YRF, the film's Telugu distributor, Naga Vamsi, is also set to incur heavy losses. He had bought War 2 for ₹90 crore, but the Telugu share is expected to be less than ₹40 crore. This means he will lose over ₹50 crore on the film. After a string of successful films like Ek Tha Tiger, Tiger Zinda Hai, War, Pathaan, and Tiger 3, War 2 marks the first failure in YRF's Spy Universe.