Dhurandhar 2 buzz lifts PVR Inox shares, advance sales cross ₹200 crore

Shares of PVR Inox Ltd. are trading with gains of as much as 2% on Wednesday, March 18. Brokerage firm Elara Capital reiterated its 'Buy' rating on the stock with a target price of ₹1,300 per share.

The upcoming release of Dhurandhar 2 is already generating significant buzz, arriving just 3.5 months after the first instalment.

Even before hitting theatres, Dhurandhar: The Revenge has created history, with advance bookings crossing ₹200 crore gross, according to Sacnilk.

This makes it only the fifth Indian film to achieve the milestone, alongside blockbusters like Pushpa 2, RRR, Baahubali 2 and Leo, and notably, the first Hindi film to do so.

The film has also crossed ₹100 crore gross in advance sales for its opening day alone, raising expectations that the sequel could outperform the original.

For context, Dhurandhar contributed ₹328 crore to PVR Inox's gross box office collections (GBOC), while the film's overall India GBOC stood at ₹844 crore. It also drove 29% of PVR's revenue in the December quarter.

Adding to the momentum, Pawan Kalyan's Ustaad Bhagat Singh is set to release tomorrow and has already crossed ₹100 crore in pre-release sales.

Strong advance booking trends across major releases point to a potentially robust fourth quarter for PVR Inox, though the key question remains whether box office collections will match the hype.

Historically, sequels tend to outperform originals by 40-50%, driven by stronger recall and opening traction. Elara Capital's Karan Taurani expects Dhurandhar 2 to open at around ₹100 crore net domestically on day one across more than 8,000 screens, with lifetime collections estimated between ₹1,100 crore and ₹1,300 crore.

If achieved, it could become the first Hindi original film to cross the ₹1,000 crore mark.

The development keeps PVR Inox in focus, especially as the company looks to offset an otherwise muted Q4FY26 box office. Following the 4700BC deal, net debt is expected to reduce to around ₹140 crore, while a strong content pipeline and improving return on invested capital continue to support the investment case.

If expectations materialise, the combined collections of Dhurandhar and its sequel could approach ₹2,000 crore, potentially surpassing major franchises like Baahubali and Pushpa, and positioning it among the highest-grossing film franchises in Indian cinema.

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