If you’re wondering why Aamir Khan is spending 7 grueling days criss-crossing the People’s Republic of China to promote his latest movie Secret Superstar, consider this: the film’s China grosses could bring the Bollywood megastar his biggest paycheck yet after the picture releases on January 19th.
That’s because Khan and his Aamir Khan Productions (“AKP”) were awarded a rare gift by China’s film authorities: Secret Superstar is the first Indian film to be granted a lucrative revenue-sharing slot under China’s film import quota.
Such valuable slots are routinely given to imports from Hollywood, but few are awarded to films from other countries. With their powerful government lobbying organizations supporting them and their big box office potential in China, American movies typically get 30 or so of the country’s 34 annual revenue-sharing slots.
The preferential treatment for Khan is undoubtedly due to the fact that he has become one of China's favorite and highest-grossing movie stars. Beginning with his 2009 comedy hit 3 Idiots, PRC movie lovers have grown increasingly crazy about the Bollywood movie mogul, and they have shown it by making blockbuster hits of his movies.
What the revenue-sharing status means for Aamir Khan is that, unlike his previous China theatrical releases Dhoom 3, PK, and Dangal, Khan’s company and its partners (including his wife Kira Rao) and backers will receive 25 percent of the gross box office revenue Secret Superstar collects during its Middle Kingdom run. Dhoom 3, and PK were sold to Chinese distributors in buyout arrangements that probably brought Khan and AKP flat fees in the sub-$1 million range. He's said to have earned a sizable share of the grosses from Dangal, but not nearly as much as the 25 percent share that Secret Superstar will bring him.
Dangal, with its nearly $200 million China gross, may have brought Khan box office bonuses, but it’s highly unlikely that he earned more than a fraction on that film of what Secret Superstar could potentially deliver to him. If the picture comes in at the low end of my projections it will pay him and his company some $5 million to $6 million. At the high end his take could exceed $25 million.
If Aamir Khan's huge fan base turns up at China's multiplexes for Secret Superstar, they could make it Bollywood's global box office champion among movies released in 2017, and together with his upcoming film Thugs of Hindostan, Secret Superstar could make Khan India's highest paid movie star of 2018.