As 2025 wraps, Hindi cinema is already queued up with sequels, mythological epics and star-heavy crowd-pleasers set to jostle for that coveted “first big film of 2026” tag.

January 2026 isn’t easing in - it’s kicking the door open. Sunny Deol returns to the border in Border 2, Anurag Singh’s sequel to the 1997 war classic, joined this time by Varun Dhawan, Diljit Dosanjh, Ahan Shetty and Sonam Bajwa, with a Republic Day - weekend slot almost guaranteed to turn every show into a patriotic sing-along. For a generation that discovered the original on cable re-runs rather than single-screen whistles, this is both a nostalgic trip and fresh spectacle.

Sunny Deol in Border 2 to be released in January 2026

Prabhas, Comedy And Horror In One Package

Prabhas in Raja Saab to be released in 2026

Right before that? Prabhas limbers up for The Raja Saab, a horror‑comedy pitched as a royal heir juggling lineage and supernatural chaos, with Sanjay Dutt in villain mode and Nidhhi Agerwal opposite him. If it lands, it could finally give the star a lighter, crowd-pleasing hit after a run of high-stakes, heavy-budget projects that didn’t always match expectations.

Big-Budget Mythology And Spy Universes

Further into 2026, the conversation keeps circling back to scale. Vicky Kaushal’s Mahavatar, a Maddock Films mythological epic about Parashuram slated for Christmas 2026, is already being positioned as one of the banner’s most ambitious projects, riding on the success of their horror-comedy universe.

Vicky Kaushal in Mahavatar

On another front, YRF’s spy world continues to expand - after 2025’s Alpha with Alia Bhatt and Sharvari, industry trackers point to 2026 as the year the studio doubles down on interconnected espionage stories and crossover casting.

Alia Bhatt in YRF’s Spy Thriller Alpha to be released next year

Star Vehicles And Franchise Bets

Industry lists for 2026 read like a mood board of familiar franchises and fresh experiments: Krrish 4 with Hrithik Roshan, long stuck in development limbo, is finally parked on several trade calendars; Don 3, with Ranveer Singh taking over the mantle, is also in the high-stakes column with a reported ₹250–275 crore budget.

Hrithik Roshan in Krrrish 4

Add in titles such as King, Ramayana, and Jailer 2, all flagged by trade sites as “most awaited” for their huge budgets and pan‑India casting, and you get a sense of how aggressively Bollywood wants to reclaim the big-screen event space from streaming.

Ranbir Kapoor in Ramayana to be released in 2026

Taken together, the early‑2026 slate suggests a very specific strategy: lean on recognisable IP - sequels, remakes, universe films - while quietly testing newer genres like horror‑comedy and grounded war dramas to see what sticks with a post‑OTT, attention-fractured audience.

If 2025 belonged to surprise mid‑budget word-of-mouth hits, 2026 looks ready to crown whichever film can balance scale with sincerity - and maybe give viewers one more reason to step away from their living-room screens and back into the dark, noisy comfort of a packed theatre.