Reel ...Kinng Akshay becomes box-office king

KUMAR IS KING: Akshay has left the Khans and Hrithik Roshan way behind when it comes to acting remunerations.

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Mumbai: After Singh is Kinng, reports say that Akshay Kumar is being offered Rs 70 crore for a new project.

Akshay Kumar seems to be ruling over the box office as he skips the Rs 10 to Rs 20 crore fee bracket.

For almost two decades the Khans have ruled over Bollywood's box-office. Shah Rukh, Salman and Aamir started the trend of being paid in crores. It was only Hrithik Roshan, who could challenge the Khans clout for a short period after his debut in 2000.

However, now Akshay Kumar, who has been reinventing himself over the past few years, is emerging as the clear box office king.

Akshay has left the Khans and Hrithik Roshan way behind when it comes to acting remunerations. UTV Motion Pictures has reportedly signed Akshay Kumar for a jaw-dropping figure of Rs 72 crore for a new project.

“I can’t go into figures, but yes, I can say that we have signed Akshay Kumar for a film that will go on floors in the second half of 2009,” says Founder UTV Rampage, Ram Mirchandani.

His last release Singh is Kinng has earned a record Rs 90 crore over the first week and is set to cross Om Shanti Om's highest collection of Rs 167crore in worldwide ticket sales.

With a number of films such as Om Shanti Om, Welcome, Chak De India and Dhoom 2 having earned over a Rs 100 crore just at the box-office, the Bollywood revenue pie is getting bigger, and with expanding international markets the revenue projections might just make Akshay's new fee worth the while.

It seems that Bollywood is now following a simple rule by investing more because bigger the investment more the returns.

Meanwhile, the topmost position might go from Shah Rukh to Akshay to someone else in the future. But, the bottom line is if the actors are charging more money, producers are making much more and the industry is growing. And at the end of the day, that is all that matters.