Shah Rukh Khan's upcoming film King has reportedly secured pre-release business worth ₹665 crore through a series of distribution and non-theatrical rights deals, even as its makers prepare for a Christmas release. The film's promotional campaign began on November 2, the actor's birthday, when he unveiled its first song, marking the start of the countdown to its theatrical debut, scheduled for December 24, 2026.
Directed by Siddharth Anand, King reunites Shah Rukh with the filmmaker after their 2023 blockbuster Pathaan. The scale of the reported deals reflects the considerable commercial expectations surrounding the project, although the film's eventual box-office performance remains to be seen.
According to reports, Dubai-based Phars Films has acquired the overseas distribution rights for a minimum guarantee of ₹175 crore, reportedly the highest such overseas deal for an Indian film. Pinkvilla has also reported that Pen Marudhar has acquired the domestic theatrical distribution rights for ₹250 crore, placing the deal among the biggest secured by a Hindi film.
The non-theatrical rights have added substantially to the reported pre-release valuation. Netflix has reportedly acquired the streaming rights for ₹150 crore, while the satellite rights have fetched ₹25 crore and the music rights ₹65 crore. Together, the five deals amount to ₹665 crore.
However, the Netflix agreement reportedly includes a theatrical performance clause, meaning the final value of the streaming rights could increase or decrease depending on the film's box-office performance. The ₹665-crore figure is therefore based on the reported deal values and is not necessarily a confirmed final recovery.
King faces a substantial box-office target
Despite the sizeable pre-release deals, the film's reported production and release costs have set a high financial benchmark. King was initially mounted on a budget of around ₹300 crore, comparable to Shah Rukh's previous big-budget release Jawan. However, reports by Sacnilk and Pinkvilla suggest that the production cost eventually increased to approximately ₹400 crore.
The film is produced by Red Chillies Entertainment in association with Siddharth Anand's Marflix Pictures. Pinkvilla has reported that the production budget of around ₹400 crore excludes Shah Rukh's acting fee but includes Anand's remuneration. Factoring in the superstar's notional fee could take the cost to approximately ₹500 crore. The producers are also expected to spend around ₹40 crore to ₹50 crore on publicity, marketing and release-related expenses, potentially pushing the overall landing cost to nearly ₹550 crore.
This means the film would need to generate net earnings exceeding that amount to recover its estimated overall cost. Distributors, meanwhile, have reportedly committed ₹425 crore through the domestic and overseas theatrical rights deals, making strong cinema collections important for their returns as well.
Film may need around ₹800 crore worldwide
Based on the reported cost estimates and the usual 60:40 split between domestic and overseas gross earnings for Shah Rukh's films, King would need to collect approximately ₹400 crore net at the Indian box office, equivalent to around ₹500 crore gross.
Overseas, it would need to earn approximately ₹150 crore net, or ₹300 crore gross. This would take the film's required worldwide box-office collection to around ₹800 crore for distributors to be profitable, according to the estimates cited in the reports.
That target would put King in the league of major commercial successes such as Rajinikanth's Jailer 2 and Vicky Kaushal's Chhaava, both cited as comparisons for the scale of collections required. The film's high reported budget and substantial distribution commitments have therefore raised expectations ahead of its release.
Shah Rukh Khan reunites with Siddharth Anand for Christmas release
King marks Shah Rukh's reunion with Siddharth Anand after Pathaan, which released in 2023 and emerged as a blockbuster. The upcoming film will also be the actor's first theatrical release in more than three years, following Rajkumar Hirani's Dunki.
Another major talking point is Shah Rukh's first on-screen collaboration with his daughter Suhana Khan. The film also features Deepika Padukone, Rani Mukerji and Abhishek Bachchan in key roles.
With its December 24, 2026, release date, King is positioned as a major Christmas attraction. Its reported ₹665-crore pre-release business has already drawn attention, but its box-office performance will determine whether it can meet the substantial financial expectations surrounding the project.