Salman Khan, Mahesh Babu, Dhanush set for box office battle

Superstars Salman Khan, Mahesh Babu and Dhanush are set to battle it out at the box office when their films "Bajrangi Bhaijaan", "Srimanthudu" and "Maari" release on July 17 worldwide.

Salman's "Bajrangi Bhaijaan", directed by Kabir Khan, has been confirmed to release on July 17 as it happens to be the Eid weekend.

Director Koratala Siva has also confirmed that Mahesh Babu's "Srimanthudu" will release on the same day.

"We had zeroed in on July 17 as release date long back. There won't be any changes. We have one have week of patchwork left, and once we're done, we will unveil the audio towards the end of this month," Siva told IANS.

Meanwhile, the makers of Dhanush's "Maari", which is directed by Balaji Mohan, have also finalised July 17 as the release date.

If the three films release together, it will indeed be a battle for screens, says trade analyst Trinath.

"All these films feature stars who demand good number of screens for wide release. However, it will be extremely tough for theatre owners to allocate screens for all the three films," Trinath told IANS.

"Moreover, 'Baahubali' releases on July 10, and it's sure going to occupy as many screens as possible. If these three films release as planned a week later, they will eat into the collections of filmmaker S.S. Rajamouli's epic film," he said.