Yash's Toxic OTT deal crashes 80 percent after box office flop

Toxic OTT deal crashes from ₹150 crore to ₹30 crore as Yash's film struggles at box office

A leading OTT platform's streaming rights offer for Yash's gangster drama Toxic has plummeted by 80 per cent following the film's disastrous theatrical run, with the deal collapsing from ₹150 crore before release to just ₹30 crore now.

The film's makers had turned down the original ₹150 crore offer from the OTT platform, demanding ₹200 crore instead, banking on Toxic becoming a blockbuster and driving up digital rights value even further. Yash was confident the film would deliver explosive business at the box office, which would allow the team to negotiate streaming rights above ₹200 crore.

Box office collapse reshapes digital strategy

After Toxic's theatrical results came in, digital platform executives reassessed the film's commercial viability. The highest current offer stands at around ₹30 crore, reportedly from Zee5. According to Bollywood Hungama, makers are now considering editing the film to create a new version for digital platforms, hoping to negotiate better terms.

The adult content in Toxic has also severely limited its satellite television prospects, leaving makers with minimal revenue expectations from that revenue stream.

Built on a budget estimated between ₹600 to ₹700 crore, Toxic has managed to collect only ₹239 crore so far. Trade analysts predict the film may cap out around ₹250 crore. After 12 days in theatres, the domestic box office tally reached ₹245 crore while the worldwide collection stood at ₹338 crore against a reported budget of approximately ₹500 crore.

Release opened strong before steep decline

The Geetu Mohandas directorial opened with a remarkable ₹101 crore net on its first day on August 26, signalling the massive anticipation surrounding Yash's return to screens after KGF 2. However, negative reviews from both fans and critics labeled it the actor's worst film.

By the tenth day of release, the film had earned just ₹240.21 crore domestically, with gross collections reaching ₹286.77 crore.

English version released with shorter runtime

In what appears to be a damage-control measure, makers released an English-language version of Toxic in Indian cinemas, which began screening with a runtime of 2 hours 56 minutes, 18 minutes shorter than the Kannada and other Indian language versions that run 3 hours 14 minutes. Industry observers believe this English re-release represents an attempt by makers to recover production costs.

The film, produced by Venkat K. Narayana and Yash under KVN Productions, stars Yash and Kiara Advani in lead roles alongside Nayanthara, Huma Qureshi, Tara Sutaria, Rukmini Vasanth and Akshay Oberoy.

What went wrong

Audience feedback pointed to weak screenplay and storyline as the film's core problems. While viewers praised Yash's screen presence and the film's style and glamour, many raised questions about the narrative and found the dialogues lacking. The mismatch between the star-studded cast and execution left viewers disappointed.

According to an India Today report, the film's post-theatrical streaming rights offers across different languages have now dropped to ₹30 crore from the pre-release offer of ₹150 crore. Makers are now focused on minimizing losses, which may result in an edited version of Toxic being released on OTT platforms. No streaming platform has been officially announced yet for the film's digital premiere.

The dramatic collapse in OTT valuation adds to what is being described as one of the year's biggest disasters, with makers potentially facing losses on both theatrical and digital fronts.