Shah Rukh Khan's King sells overseas rights for ₹175 crore, highest in Indian cinema history; film needs to out-earn Pathaan, Jawan to break even

Shah Rukh Khan's King is directed by Siddharth Anand, who gave the actor his first ₹1000-crore blockbuster with Pathaan.

Even as South behemoths have conquered the Indian market with their pan-India offerings, Shah Rukh Khan remains the ‘king’ overseas. That much is evident from reports on his new film, King, and its overseas rights deal. A new report claims that the film’s overseas theatrical rights have been acquired for ₹175 crore, setting a new record for Indian cinema.

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

King’s reported record overseas rights deal

Pinkvilla reported that Phars Films has acquired the rights to sell the film overseas for ₹175 crore (over $18 million). Till now, the overseas rights of Shah Rukh’s films have been with Yash Raj Films. The company famously distributed both Pathaan (made under its own banner) and Jawan starring Shah Rukh in 2023, to great success. However, Phars also has experience in overseas distribution. It partnered with YRF on many of its films and handled Prabhas’ Saaho on its own. The Pinkvilla report states that Phars has paid a minimum guarantee (MG) amount of ₹175 crore for King’s distribution rights. No Indian film has reached the ₹100 crore mark so far, which makes this achievement staggering.

What this deal means for King’s theatrical aspirations

The MG amount paid for a film reflects the distributor’s faith in its theatrical performance. Overseas, distributors usually receive only 50% of the box office gross, which means that King would have to earn $37-40 million just to break even. That corresponds to around ₹350-375 crore gross internationally. Incidentally, Shah Rukh’s two most successful films - Pathaan and Jawan - both earned around ₹400 crore overseas. King would have to earn at least as much, if not more, to be profitable. Given this high MG, King’s overseas collections would have to be at least as high as those of Dhurandhar 2 ( ₹460 crore) or RRR ( ₹430 crore) to be a success there. And these are some of the biggest overseas successes in Indian cinema history.

All about King

King stars Shah Rukh Khan in the lead role and is directed by Siddharth Anand. The film marks Shah Rukh's second collaboration with Siddharth after the 2023 release, Pathaan.

The film also features Suhana Khan, Deepika Padukone, Abhishek Bachchan, Rani Mukerji, Jaideep Ahalawat, Raghav Juyal, Saurabh Shukla, among others. The project marks Shah Rukh's first film with his daughter Suhana, who made her acting debut with The Archies in 2023. The film is scheduled to arrive in theatres on December 24.