This year, the South Indian box office has seen a vibrant and wide mix of genres from crossover sports dramas to vigilante fantasy to family-oriented action and comedy entertainers to character-driven mysteries. Here’s a roundup of the highest grossers in South Indian cinema this year.
With "Peddi" officially surpassing Suriya's "Karuppu" with a reported worldwide box office total of Rs 378 crore, the Ram Charan-starrer has become not only 2026's highest-grossing Telugu-language movie but also the highest-grossing South Indian movie. And it's only been 10 days since the sports drama hit theatres.
"Peddi", despite the mixed responses from various corners, continues to bring in good daily numbers of above Rs 5 crore even after 10 days. The only other South Indian big-scale release that matched this performance was Suriya's "Karuppu", which is said to have crossed Rs 340 crore globally already, before releasing on Prime Video after a month-long theatrical run.
Chiranjeevi-starrer "Mana Shankara Vara Prasad Garu", which featured Nayanthara as the female lead and Venkatesh in an extended cameo, comes third. The action-packed family entertainer directed by Anil Ravipudi ended Chiranjeevi's box-office dry spell, earning Rs 300 crore against an estimated Rs 200 crore budget. It is streaming on Zee5.
These are followed by two Malayalam blockbusters, both part of a franchise: Mohanlal's mystery drama "Drishyam 3" and the coming-of-age movie "Vaazha 2: Biopic of a Billion Bros". Both films have crossed Rs 235 crore at the global box office. They have also been released on streaming platforms — "Drishyam 3" on Prime Video and "Vaazha 2" on JioHotstar.
