Tubelight became the first Salman Khan film this decade which failed to set the Box Office on fire during the Eid weekend. Despite collecting over Rs 100 crore at the ticket window, the movie was labeled a flop as the distributors had acquired all India rights of the film for Rs 133 crore.
The film was sold to the distributors expecting business close to Rs 300 crore in India, however owing to the poor audience word of mouth, the film ended its run at collections close to Rs 120 crore. Following the dismal run, Salman Khan and his father, Salim Khan decided to refund Rs 35 crore to the distributors to reduce the quantum of losses.
In an interview, when Salim Khan was asked about the reason to compensate the distributors, he said,
“The reason for compensating the distributors was that the price it had been sold at was in expectation of it making Rs 250-300 crore at the box office like most Salman films, which it didn’t. If Tubelight had been sold reasonably, it would have been a hit.”
Salman Khan in a still from Tubelight/ Salim Khan (IANS) — Treated by Chetan Kamal, InUth
The statement might confuse a lot of people who are not well versed with the number game that exists in the industry. What Salim Khan meant here was that the producers of Tubelight entailed huge profits due to the sale of distribution rights, satellite rights, music rights and digital rights. If the social drama was sold for Rs 50 crore in India and not Rs 133 crore, the distributors, as well as producers, would have been in profits following which the film would be termed a hit.
However, since the film was sold for a humongous sum, the distributors entailed losses which resulted in the flop tag.
Salman Khan in a still from Tubelight
Directed by Kabir Khan, Tubelight was set against the backdrop of Sino-Indian war wherein Salman Khan essayed the character of a guy who is a slow learner.
Source: The Scroll
