Disney+ Hotstar to stream ‘Brahmastra’ on 4 November

Disney+ Hotstar will stream superhero film ‘Brahmastra’ on 4 November. The Ranbir Kapoor and Alia Bhatt-starrer had released in theatres this September and made Rs. 256 crore at the box office.

After S.S. Rajamouli’s ‘RRR’, trade experts say Star Studios’ production ‘Brahmastra’ may find it tough to recoup its investment fully any time soon. The film, produced at a budget of over Rs. 350 crore, has translated into a Rs. 128 crore share for producers Star Studios, which is also retaining the satellite and digital rights for their platforms. Trade experts say the box office is yet to recover to fully support such ultra-expensive films though producers are conceiving these as franchises that will pay off in the long term with multiple spin-offs. Earlier this year, distributors and theatre owners who paid over Rs. 400 crore to acquire the rights of ‘RRR’ had not been able to recoup their investments. Trade experts said the film couldn’t achieve the box office collections it could have if it had been released before the pandemic. The period drama had underperformed, particularly in the Hindi-speaking belt, making less than Rs. 275 crore as compared to the Rs. 510 crore made by Rajamouli’s ‘Baahubali 2: The Conclusion’ in 2017.

Out of Disney+’s global 221 million paid subscriber base, Hotstar makes up around 58 million. The service is known as Hotstar only in India, Indonesia and some other Asian markets. To be sure, having lost the rights to live-stream Indian Premier League matches for the next five years, Disney+ Hotstar is going all out to beef up its entertainment content and prevent subscribers from leaving the platform, especially in India. Reliance Industries-owned Viacom18 had recently won the digital streaming rights to the IPL for Rs. 23,758 crore for 2023-27.