Shah Rukh Khan's King earns ₹665 crore in pre-release deals; would need to out-earn Jailer 2, Chhaava just to break even

King, starring Shah Rukh Khan and directed by Siddharth Anand, is the actor's first release in over three years.

The promotional campaign for Shah Rukh Khan’s King has begun. On his birthday, November 2, the superstar shared the film’s first song with the world. With this, the countdown to King’s release - seven weeks out - has begun. And while it is too early to talk about the film’s box-office prospects, reports say it is already breaking the bank in terms of pre-release business.

Shah Rukh Khan's King will release on Christmas this year.

King earns ₹665 crore in pre-release business

King, directed by Siddharth Anand, marks Shah Rukh’s reunion with the director after their 2023 blockbuster Pathaan. Naturally, the anticipation for the film is sky-high. As a result, the film has secured major distribution deals, as well as digital and music rights. Phars Films acquired the film’s overseas rights, reportedly for a record minimum guarantee of ₹175 crore. No Indian film has ever crossed ₹100 crore. Now, Pinkvilla has reported that the film's Indian distribution rights have been sold to Pen Marudhar for ₹250 crore. This is among the highest for any Hindi film as well.

In addition, the report states that Netflix has bought the film’s streaming rights for ₹150 crore, while the satellite and music rights have been sold for ₹25 crore and ₹65 crore, respectively. The Netflix deal comes with a theatrical performance rider, which means the streaming rights figure could rise or fall depending on how King performs at the box office. But in case the figures hold, King has earned ₹665 crore globally before its release.

Deep Dive

How much does Shah Rukh Khan’s King need to earn to break even?

How has King earned a reported ₹665 crore before its release?

Can King’s Netflix deal change depending on its box-office performance?

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How much does King need to make to break even?

King was mounted on a massive ₹300-crore budget, equal to Shah Rukh’s last grand release - Jawan. However, reports from Sacnilk and Pinkvilla state that during production, the budget ballooned up to almost ₹400 crore. In addition, sources say that Red Chillies Entertainment, the film’s producers, are spending almost ₹50 crore on promotion and marketing. After including Shah Rukh’s notional fee, King’s landing cost could balloon up to ₹550 crore. This means the film will have to cross this mark in its net earnings to break even. The global distribution fee of ₹425 crore is another threshold the film must meet for it to be profitable for distributors.

Given that Shah Rukh’s films usually have a 60-40 ratio of domestic to overseas gross earnings, this would mean King would have to earn ₹400 crore net ( ₹500 crore gross) domestically and ₹150 crore net ( ₹300 crore gross) overseas to be profitable. This comes out to a global haul of around ₹800 crore, the same amount that Rajinikanth’s Jailer 2 has earned so far, or what Vicky Kaushal’s Chhaava managed last year.

All about King

Directed by Siddharth Anand, King will release in theatres on December 24, 2026, making it a major Christmas release. The film marks Shah Rukh's reunion with Anand after their collaboration on 'Pathaan', which was released in theatres in 2023. The film is Shah Rukh's first release in over three years, since Rajkumar Hirani's Dunki hit the screens. King marks the actor's first on-screen collaboration with his daughter, Suhana Khan. It also features Deepika Padukone, Rani Mukerji, and Abhishek Bachchan in key roles.