The Biggest Malayalam Films of 2026 — and Where to Stream Them
Drishyam 3 and Vaazha II both cleared 230 crore, and six of the year's seven biggest Malayalam films are already on Indian OTT. The 2026 Mollywood leaderboard, with the platform for each.
Malayalam cinema spent 2025 proving it could make a 300-crore film. Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra did it from an industry whose ceiling had historically been about a fifth of that, and it finished eighth on the all-India list for the year. 2026 has been a different and in some ways more interesting kind of year: no single film at that scale, but a much deeper bench, with two releases above 230 crore and five more clearing 30.
The other thing that separates Malayalam from the rest of Indian cinema in 2026 is how fast its films reach streaming. Where the year's biggest Tamil film is still theatrical-only three weeks after release, six of the seven below were on an Indian service within weeks, and they are spread across five different platforms rather than concentrated on two. If you follow Malayalam cinema from outside Kerala, streaming is not the second window — it is effectively the release.
Figures are worldwide gross as carried by Wikipedia's list of 2026 Malayalam films. As with every Indian box office table, these are unaudited trade estimates rather than reported receipts, and the smaller numbers at the bottom of the list are the least firm of all.
1/7Drishyam 3
Film · 2026 · Malayalam · May 21, 2026
Prime Video7.3Worldwide gross 242 crore Thirteen years after the first one, Jeethu Joseph and Mohanlal returned to the most durable franchise in Malayalam cinema and got the year's biggest opening out of it. Drishyam is the rare Indian series where each entry has had to invent a new problem for its protagonist rather than repeat the last one, and the reason it travels — it has been remade in seven languages — is that the premise is pure mechanism with no cultural translation required. On Prime Video.
2/7Vaazha II
Film · 2026 · Malayalam · Apr 2, 2026
JioHotstarWorldwide gross 234–235 crore Eight crore behind Drishyam 3 and made for a very small fraction of its budget, which makes it comfortably the more profitable film of the two. The first Vaazha was a low-budget comedy about a group of underachieving friends that became a genuine phenomenon on word of mouth; the sequel opened on that goodwill and held it. On JioHotstar.
3/7Aadu 3 Part 1
Film · 2026 · Malayalam · Mar 19, 2026
Zee55.7Worldwide gross 120 crore The third of Midhun Manuel Thomas's anarchic Aadu comedies, and the third sequel in this top three — 2026 in Malayalam has been a franchise year, which is not what the industry's reputation for original mid-budget filmmaking would predict. It is also a full hundred crore behind second place, so the top of this table is two films and then a gap. Zee5.
4/7Patriot
Film · 2026 · Malayalam · May 1, 2026
Worldwide gross 79.66 crore The highest-grossing film in this list that has not yet reached streaming — it opened on 1 May and had not appeared on an Indian service as of 13 August, which is a long window by 2026 Malayalam standards and the exception rather than the rule here. No platform tag on this card for that reason.
5/7Athiradi
Film · 2026 · Malayalam · May 14, 2026
SonyLIV6.6Worldwide gross 71 crore A May release that landed just under Patriot and got to streaming considerably faster. The only film in this top seven on SonyLIV, which is part of what makes the Malayalam streaming picture unusual: no single platform has cornered the industry's output the way Netflix and Prime have divided up Hindi and Tamil.
6/7Bharathanatyam 2 Mohiniyattam
Film · 2026 · Malayalam · Apr 10, 2026
NetflixWorldwide gross 52 crore Another sequel, and another example of the pattern running through the whole of this year's Malayalam top ten. Fifty-two crore is a solid rather than spectacular result and the sort of number that used to define a good year for a Malayalam release, which is the clearest measure of how far the industry's ceiling has moved since 2024. Netflix.
7/7Chatha Pacha: The Ring of Rowdies
Film · 2026 · Malayalam · Jan 22, 2026
NetflixWorldwide gross 35.51 crore A January release and the earliest film on this list, which gives it the longest tail and the most settled figure. It is the last entry above the 30-crore line in a year where the tenth-placed Malayalam film took 17 — the drop below this point is steep. On Netflix.
The shape of the year: two films above 230 crore, one at 120, and then a long flat run in the double digits. Malayalam cinema has not repeated 2025's 300-crore breakthrough, but it has built a much thicker middle than it had two years ago, and it has done it largely on sequels — the top three in 2026 are all continuations of existing series, which is new for an industry whose reputation rests on originals.
For streaming, this is the most evenly distributed Indian film industry there is. The six streaming films above sit across Prime Video, JioHotstar, Zee5, SonyLIV and Netflix, with no platform holding more than two. Only Patriot and Balan: The Boy from the wider top ten had not reached an Indian service as of publication.
Everything new in the language as it lands is on the Malayalam hub. For the rest of South Indian cinema in 2026, Telugu and Tamil have their own leaderboard, and 2025's all-India list has Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra at eighth — still the biggest Malayalam film ever made.
Frequently asked
- What is the highest-grossing Malayalam film of 2026?
- Drishyam 3, at 242 crore worldwide per Wikipedia's 2026 Malayalam list. Vaazha II is second at 234 to 235 crore. Drishyam 3 streams on Prime Video in India.
- Where can I watch Drishyam 3 and Vaazha II?
- Drishyam 3 is on Amazon Prime Video and Vaazha II is on JioHotstar, both as of August 2026.
- What is the biggest Malayalam film of all time?
- Lokah Chapter 1: Chandra, released in 2025, at roughly 302 to 304 crore worldwide. Nothing in 2026 has come close to it; the year's biggest, Drishyam 3, took 242 crore.
- Which platform has the most Malayalam films?
- No single one dominates. The 2026 top seven are spread across Prime Video, JioHotstar, Zee5, SonyLIV and Netflix, with no platform holding more than two — a much flatter distribution than Hindi or Tamil.
Sources
This page always shows the latest edition. The 2026 So Far list also has a permanent home at /blog/biggest-malayalam-films-2026-so-far.