Shares of film production company Mukta Arts and multiplex theatre operator PVR soared today ahead of the bumper release of the much-awaited movie, Baahubali: The Conclusion, starring superstars Prabhas and Rana Dagubatti, is to be released on close to 6,000 screens across the country. Industry experts reportedly believe that the second offering in the already massively successful Baahubali franchise will be a mega hit on the box-offices and will draw crowds to the theatres in huge numbers.

“Expect Baahubali 2 aggregate numbers to be much more than Dangal,” PVR said to ET Now. “Initial reviews indicate Baahubali 2 a much bigger & better film,” PVR added.

Shares of Mukta Arts rose 6.37% while those of PVR rose 1.07% to Rs. 112.65 and Rs. 1,629.00 respectively on the NSE today,

“Mukta Arts believes that Q1 of FY18 is going to be a good quarter, as it will start with ‘Baahubali 2’ and end with ‘Tubelight’ (a Salman Khan starrer) with some good Hollywood content released as well,” Nirmal Bang Securities said in a research report.

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“Mukta Arts is focused more on value-for-money customers in mostly tier-II and tier-III cities and sometimes in tier-I cities. Thus, while PVR’s average ticket price is around Rs 200, average Food and Beverage spend per head is Rs 85 and advertisement revenue per screen is around Rs 45 lakh, the corresponding numbers for Mukta Arts are around Rs 120, Rs 33 and Rs 4 lakh, respectively. The film exhibition business has been transferred to its 100 per cent subsidiary, Mukta A2 Cinemas, with effect from April 1, 2017,” the report added.

The prequel, Baahubali: The Beginning, was released in 2015 and it turned out to be a mega hit. Its collection of Rs 650 crore at the box office had set a new record in the Indian film industry.

The sequel, to be released today, is expected to rake in around Rs 1,000 crore at the box offices, as per industry pundits.

“Going ahead, a number of factors should augur well for the industry. Baahubali: The Conclusion will be released in the first quarter of FY18; phase III & IV of digitisation will aid subscription growth and a pickup in free-to-air channels will continue to result in more ad spends in rural India,” brokerage Edelweiss Securities had said in a research report earlier this month.