Decoding the economics of Dream Girl 2: Ayushmann Khurrana starrer budget, recovery, & lifetime Box Office

Here's why the Ayushmann Khurrana and Ananya Panday starrer Dream Girl 2 is a hit film; Understanding the budgets and profits of this Ekta Kapoor produced comic franchise. Details

Written by Himesh Mankad , Journalist

Updated on Sep 20, 2023 | 05:16 PM IST | 721.8K

Decoding the economics of Dream Girl 2: Ayushmann Khurrana starrer budget, recovery, & lifetime Box Office

The tides have changed for the Hindi Film Industry over the last few months with multiple successful films. It all begun with Zara Hatke Zara Bachke and from then till Jawan, the Hindi Film Industry has delivered 7 back-to-back successful films, of which 6 are clean hits or more. One of the 6 clean hits is the Raaj Shaandilyaa directed Dream Girl 2, led by Ayushmann Khurrana with Ananya Panday. The comic caper is nearing the end of its run with lifetime collection in the vicinity of Rs 100 crore. The 27-day total collection of the film stands at Rs 98.50 crore, and with a clear run, it is headed to just about hit a century by end of its run.

Ekta Kapoor makes Rs 23 crore profit from Dream Girl 2

On the overseas front, the Dream Girl sequel has collected $2.05 million (INR 17.03 crore), taking the global gross collection to INR 135 crore. The film has turned out to be a profitable venture for all the stakeholders. Made on a budget of Rs 72 crore, producer Ekta Kapoor had presold all the rights, including theatrical to several stakeholders. While the Satellite, Digital and Music rights fetched Rs 65 crore to the producer, she gave the theatrical rights to Pen Marudhar at an MG (Minimum Guarantee) of Rs 24 crore. The recovery for Ekta Kapoor stands at Rs 89 crore, which is a profit of Rs 17 crore on an investment of Rs 70 crore (including print and publicity), even before the film’s release. The producer fetched another Rs 6 crore from the overseas share, taking total recovery to Rs 95 crore. The ROI for Ekta from Dream Girl 2 is around 32 percent.

The producer was in profit even before the release of Dream Girl 2, but in a verdict chart, producer profit is more often than not irrelevant as what matters the most is distributor earning. In case of Dream Girl 2, Pen Marudhar fetched a share of Rs 43 crore from India on an investment of Rs 24 crore. This has resulted in an ROI of 79 percent. The film was sold at a relatively cheap number on MG to Pen as the market scenario back then was not that great and hero was also coming off back-to-back not so successful films. Ideally, a sequel to a success film, which made Rs 140 crore back in 2018, should have been sold at a higher price, but short-selling the film has proved to be a blessing in disguise for all the stakeholders, the biggest beneficiary being the distributor, who took the risk of buying the film on MG.

Dream Girl 2 is a CLEAN HIT

In-fact, Dream Girl 2 is among the rare films where the ROI for distributor is higher than the ROI for producer, and this has primarily happened due to the de-risking mode adopted by Ekta Kapoor and the risk-taking attitude of Pen. Ideally, it's a downer from the first part of the franchise, but given the dynamic of business for mid range films in the last 2 years, the makers and team DG 2 would be more than happy to take home the century with a wide smile on their face. All in all, Dream Girl 2 has entailed profits for all the departs and is thereby a clean hit for the entire team. With these percentage of profits, Dream Girl 2 could have been a super hit, but being a franchsie film and a case of short selling the theatrical rights, it will settle with the HIT tag. In an ideal scenario of confidence, a franchise film like Dream Girl 2 would have been sold for at-least Rs 37 to 40 crore on MG to distributors, and would have alligned with the budget to the verdict allotted.

Here’s a look at economics of Dream Girl 2

For Producers

Cost of Production	Rs 60 crore
Print & Publicity	Rs 12 crore
Total Cost (A)	Rs 72 crore
Satellite + Digital + Music	Rs 65 crore
India Theatrical on MG	Rs 24 crore
Overseas Share	Rs 6 crore
Total Revenue (B)	Rs 95 crore
Total Profit (B-A)	Rs 23 crore
ROI	32 Percent