Akshay Kumar is known to be one of the most hardworking actors of Bollywood and he is on a signing spree to line up his releases for 2021 and 2022.
Bollywood Hungama reported that the actor has his dates booked for the next year and has decided to hike his acting fees due to the excessive demand.
A source said “Over the last few months in the lockdown, Akshay Kumar has gradually hiked his fees from 99 crores to 108 crores and finally settled in on 117 crores for the films he signed recently. Every producer wants to have Akshay on board, considering his low risk, low budget, and assured return model, leading to excessive demand in the market.”
“Akshay too has followed the economic formula of higher the demand, higher the price, as with every film offers coming his way, he hiked his fees. For the films which are slated for a 2022 release, Akshay will charge a bomb of Rs 135 crores per film,” the source continued.
The source states further, “The production budget of most Akshay Kumar films will be in the range of Rs. 35 to 45 crores, in addition to 15 crores more for print and publicity, taking the total in the range of Rs. 50 to 60 crores. Taking the number of his acting fees into account, the overall budget of his films would be in the range of 185 to 195 crores.”
“Doing a backward calculation in the account, his films earn approximately 80 to 90 crores from the sale of satellite and digital, whereas 10 crores more comes from the sale of music rights, leaving an amount in the range of Rs. 95 to 100 crores for recovery from theatres, meaning lifetime box-office collections of Rs. 210-220 crores in India. This isn’t as big a number for him to achieve, given his stardom and trust among the audience. And in 2021, it’s a rather easy number for a superstar like Akshay,” the source went on to say.
The actor has also given a special discount to his producer-friend, Sajid Nadiadwala, by charging his 20% below the market rate, since Sajid is planning to make a bigger budget film with higher post-production charges than the rest.
“Akshay doesn’t want to burden his film with unrealistic expectations, and the films which warrant a bigger budget, he is open to negotiating on his acting fees in tandem with the hike in the budget, however, will make up for the same by asking for a share in profit. He knows the box-office market as also his appeal among the audience, and setting realistic targets for the film to be a rather safe venture,” the source concluded.
The queue of Akshay’s upcoming film consists of Sooryavanshi, Atrangi Re, Prithviraj, Ram Setu, Mission Lion, Raksha Bandhan, and many more.