A few years ago, achieving the $1 million mark was a huge milestone for a Telugu film.
A $1 million overseas gross was once considered a barometer of success for many Telugu stars, including Nandamuri Balakrishna.
However, after some of his recent films performed well, producers and distributors raised the bar significantly.
As a result, Balakrishna’s films also became expensive in the overseas market.
Given the successful Balakrishna–Boyapati combination and Akhanda 2 being a sequel, the distributor acquired the overseas rights for an astronomical price.
Even after selling the film to various other international territories, Akhanda 2 needed to collect $1.6 million overseas to reach the break-even point.
However, the film took a long time even to touch the $1 million mark. It finally crossed the milestone only 24 days after its premiere.
While this became Balakrishna’s fifth film to cross $1 million overseas, it also turned out to be a major flop. The distributor reportedly incurred losses of over Rs 5 crore on this investment.
