Baahubali rights snapped up by Netflix for Rs 25.5 crore; The Conclusion completes 100 days in theatres

Mere days after it reached a milestone — completing a 100-day run in Indian theatres — SS Rajamouli’s epic Baahubali has notched up another achievement. It has been snapped up by streaming giant Netflix for the sum of Rs 25.5 crore. [caption id=“attachment_3914857” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Still from Baahubali[/caption] Firstpost had reported on 8 August that Baahubali, starring Prabhas, Anushka Shetty and Rana Daggubati, would be made available for viewing on Netflix. As per a Mint report, however, Netflix paid the princely sum of $ 4 million (around Rs 25.5 crore) to snag the deal with Arka Mediaworks, the producers of Baahubali. The deal includes the streaming rights to both Baahubali: The Beginning and Baahubali 2: The Conclusion (also spelt as Bahubali 2). “We are very happy and excited to partner with Netflix. Theatrically, its not possible to reach all markets, but with this deal Baahubali will reach 192 countries seamlessly,” Shobu Yarlagadda, of Arka Mediaworks, was quoted by Mint as saying. The Baahubali deal is part of Netflix’s increased focus on India as a market. It has not only brought streaming rights to Shah Rukh Khan and Aamir Khan, but also green-lighted a slate of original programming, including screen adaptations of Vikram Chandra’s Sacred Games and Aravind Adiga’s Selection Day. Baahubali 2 opened in theatres on 28 April 2017, and its performance was beyond the wildest dreams of any trade analyst, as Firstpost noted in an earlier story . Clocking up an impressive Rs 40+ crore on its first day, its box office collections crossed the Rs 100 crore mark by the end of its opening weekend. One benchmark after another was set, and it became the first Indian film to gross over Rs 1,000 crore. It was also — until Dangal’s release in China this May — India’s top-earning film. At the end of its 100-day theatre run, Baahubali 2’s worldwide box office figures stand at a little under the Rs 1,700-crore mark. The Hindi version of the film has collected nearly Rs 510 crore while the all-India gross collections of all versions comes up to an astounding Rs 1,380 crore. Baahubali: The Beginning had collected around Rs 650 crore when it released in 2015.