Christmas 2026 is shaping up as a screen-allocation battle before the box-office battle even begins. On one side is Shah Rukh Khan’s King, set for December 24. On the other is Disney’s Avengers: Doomsday, opening December 17 but still negotiating for premium show times through the holiday window.
Bollywood Hungama reports that Disney has begun booking screens in India and wants a strict contract that assures a specified number of shows for the Marvel crossover on Christmas Day. Exhibitors, the report says, are trying to work out how to give the Hollywood title fair showcasing while managing the local tentpole.
Pen Marudhar’s pitch: every possible screen
Pen Marudhar has told exhibitors that King marks Shah Rukh Khan’s return to the big screen after three years, and the asking strategy is simple: put the film on every possible screen. The distributor has asked for a showcase plan that prioritises King over Avengers, Dune and Jumanji combined, summing up the pitch as “King Akela Hi Kaafi Hai”.
That line is not just a tagline; it is a distribution argument. Pen Marudhar is effectively asking cinemas to treat one Hindi tentpole as worth more than the combined Hollywood slate in the same corridor.
Why screen share decides the Christmas window
In India, opening-day collections are rarely decided by a release date alone. The number of shows, the format mix and the time band — prime-time versus morning — determine how much a film can collect before word of mouth kicks in. For two big films releasing within a week of each other, a show-sharing negotiation can be worth more than a marketing press tour.
- Disney wants contractual show guarantees for Avengers: Doomsday on Christmas Day.
- Pen Marudhar wants King to open on December 24 with the widest possible showcase.
- Exhibitors will have to split premium screens, pricing and show times between two distributors.
For theatre owners, the trade-off is not just about giving both films screens; it is about which film gets the evening shows, the large-format halls and the higher-priced weekend slots. That allocation shapes the opening weekend more than either campaign’s media spend.
The marketing view
For media planners and entertainment marketers, the screen-share grid will matter more than the trailers. A wide release with prime-time protection can lift a film’s opening-day ceiling, while a contractual show count protects a Hollywood opener through a holiday that some cinemas may prefer to give to a Hindi star vehicle.
There are two things to track from here: the advance-booking windows and the final show-count splits across multiplex chains and single screens. Those will show whether Pen Marudhar’s “King Akela Hi Kaafi Hai” ask is real or negotiation posturing.
What comes next
The report says exhibitors are prepared to spend Christmas negotiating with the two distributors. The Indian outcome is likely to be decided in the days before King’s December 24 release, after Avengers: Doomsday has already opened on December 17.
The question is whether one Hindi tentpole can hold more screens than a combined Hollywood slate. If it does, it becomes a template for future holiday clashes.
Source: Bollywood Hungama
