Shah Rukh Khan’s upcoming action thriller ‘King’ has topped IMDb’s list of the most anticipated Indian films of 2026, underscoring the global excitement around the superstar’s return to the big screen. The ranking is based on worldwide user engagement on IMDb, drawing from actual page views generated by the platform’s 250 million monthly visitors, according to Variety.

Quoting the Variety story, a UNI report said the list reflects a growing international appetite for Indian cinema across languages and genres. The top 20 titles span five Indian languages, including 10 Hindi films, five Telugu releases, three Tamil films, and one each in Malayalam and Kannada, highlighting the diversity of stories capturing global attention ahead of their theatrical releases in 2026.

‘King’ reunites Shah Rukh Khan with ‘Pathaan’ director Siddharth Anand and marks the actor’s first theatrical release in nearly three years. Its top position points to strong anticipation for Khan’s comeback, with global audiences keenly tracking updates around the film. The rankings also feature several high-profile projects, including Nitesh Tiwari’s mythological epic ‘Ramayana Part 1’ starring Ranbir Kapoor and Yash, H. Vinoth’s Tamil political drama ‘Jana Nayagan’, believed to be actor-turned-politician Vijay’s final film role, Prabhas’ Spirit directed by Sandeep Reddy Vanga, and Geetu Mohandas’ ‘Toxic’ featuring Yash.

The list also points to strong interest in sequels and expanding cinematic universes, including ‘Dhurandhar 2’, ‘Alpha’ from the YRF Spy Universe, ‘Benz’ from the Lokesh Cinematic Universe, and ‘Shakti Shalini’ from Maddock’s horror-comedy slate. Other titles rounding out the top 20 include Salman Khan’s ‘Battle of Galwan’, Pradeep Ranganathan’s ‘LIK: Love Insurance Kompany’, Nani’s ‘The Paradise’, Ram Charan’s ‘Peddi’, NTR Jr’s ‘Dragon’, and Akshay Kumar’s ‘Bhooth Bangla’.

IMDb said the rankings were determined by sustained user interest, tracking which upcoming Indian films generated the most consistent engagement from its global audience.