A Box Office Hit or a Blunder of Budget, Here’s Why Housefull 5 OTT Release Is Making News

If you missed catching the madness of Housefull 5 in theatres, don’t worry, Bollywood’s most chaotic movie is now all set to watched online on OTT platforms, but not in the way the fans expected. Starring Akshay Kumar, Riteish Deshmukh, Abhishek Bachchan, among others, the movie has now officially landed on the Amazon Prime Video, but here’s a catch.

The movie is not free to the regular subscribers yet; the viewers must pay extra to watch the movie. If you want to stream it now, you’ll need to rent the film for ₹349. Once rented, you can watch the film anytime within 30 days, but once you press play, you’ll have to finish it in 48 hours. This trend of early paid releases is becoming very common on the OTT platforms, especially for big Bollywood films.

But here’s an interesting aspect behind the business of this movie. 

Housefull 5 has made headlines since its release, first with the dual ending, then with its massive ₹225 crore budget. While it has been able to manage to earn ₹198 crore net in India and ₹304 crore worldwide, the film still couldn’t fully recover its costs. 

Hence, the reason behind the early paid OTT release. This paid release is a part of a much larger strategy by production house to recover its money quickly, especially when the box office returns fall a bit short. By offering the film on rent first, they are tapping into fans excitement who don’t want to wait any longer, and who are willingly ready to pay for this early access.

If you’re a fan of chaos and comedy, this star powered film promises a rollercoaster ride. And if you can wait it out then, according to the reports, Housefull 5 is expected to be available to all Amazon Prime subscribers by August 1, about eight weeks after its theatre release.