Rumour: Four Big Films Badly Affected By OTT

Like it was discussed in these columns many times, already the big OTT players have started cutting down the paychecks being offered to big films. Even for the biggest of the big movies, it’s being said that they are now offering very low pay, almost half of what they have offered earlier to take the digital rights of all languages of a film. Even some of the biggest films being made are suffering from this.

A rumour is that the upcoming four big Telugu films are not even happy with what’s happening in terms of digital streaming rights. With Prabhas’ Fauzi getting delayed, the film’s OTT deal is getting restructured, affecting the money flow towards the producers’ accounts. Even for Rajamouli’s Varanasi, the OTT platform still hasn't paid the agreed advance, as per insider talks. For Jr NTR’s Dragon, the offer is pretty much below ₹200 crores, and that’s too low and also too risky for the producer as they are investing a lot in his Prashanth Neel directorial.

Coming to Allu Arjun’s Raaka, a fantasy actioner headlined by director Atlee, the offer is around ₹200 crores, while the makers are investing somewhere around ₹700 crores on the movie. Insiders say OTT decisions are badly affecting these movies. Because these films can’t even recover half of their investments from the OTT deals, the movies should click big time at the box office; otherwise, the pockets of producers will be burned massively.