russia Russia Box Office

[Rudolf]

I won't pretend to be an expert for Russia (although I speak russian), but just writing down higher and higher numbers for any movie looks stupid to me. What's interesting ist that some movies outperform while others don't enjoy a proportional success. I would like to hear if someone has a good explanation. Why is Shrek such a phenomenon there? Most other animation movies also excel. Superhero movies underperform:in 2008:Madagaskar 40 KungFu Panda 20 Iron Man 9 Dark Knight 8Fantasy movies work last year Conan made 9 that was 1/3rd of total OS. John Carter leads this year with 33.I am not sure how Battleship will do. If they perceive it as display of American armoury, it will not fare well.

[Fullbuster]

I won't pretend to be an expert for Russia (although I speak russian), but just writing down higher and higher numbers for any movie looks stupid to me. What's interesting ist that some movies outperform while others don't enjoy a proportional success. I would like to hear if someone has a good explanation. Why is Shrek such a phenomenon there? Most other animation movies also excel. Superhero movies underperform:in 2008:Madagaskar 40 KungFu Panda 20 Iron Man 9 Dark Knight 8Fantasy movies work last year Conan made 9 that was 1/3rd of total OS. John Carter leads this year with 33.I am not sure how Battleship will do. If they perceive it as display of American armoury, it will not fare well.

Russia doesn't have a comic book culture, they don't know superheroes very well.I think Spiderman et Iron Man are the only superheroes who can perform very well in Russia.By the way, I'm learning Russian, but I'm just a beginner

[Jake Gittes]

Superhero movies have always been looked down upon, though not as much in the past couple of years. It's interesting because science-fiction and fantasy movies regularly make a lot of money despite being no less, and often even more silly than, say, Iron Man or X-Men, but I guess it's just psychological - nobody in the general audience feels ashamed to watch Pirates of the Caribbean or John Carter, but as soon as it's a guy in a silly suit, the audience immediately gets reduced in size.As far as animated films, well, families love going to the movies, and quite often these movies also have a sizable audience in young males and females (aged 15-25). The not-totally-innocent humor and the 3D effects appeal to all ages, that's also why Shrek and Ice Age prosper, while Pixar movies, with their carefully delivered stories and messages and subtler-than-usual humor, often struggle. To an average young guy in his early 20's, Shrek's cool. Toy Story 3? Who needs that childish dreck, I mean, do you seriously expect me to go watch a movie about freaking toys? Or an old guy with a flying house? I may be exaggerating somewhat, but that's often the attitude.In general, for all their success, movies are still widely perceived as entertainment that's not required to be challenging in any way, that's why people happily watch 2012 or Pirates 4 or Prince of Persia without giving a crap about how strong the story is. It's the reason I was personally happy to witness the success of Inception - it was a visually spectacular blockbuster with a strong story that actually managed to appeal, and to connect. I went to see it in its fourth week and the auditorium was full; all three times I went to see it, there were audible gasps right before the credits. It's a shame there are so few such films, and that the audiences aren't demanding for them, settling for whatever new 3D roller-coaster ride of a movie that there is.And Shrek is such a phenomenon because it was pretty much the first major animated movie to arrive when Russian movie theaters began slowly climbing out of the black hole that was the 1990's. A lot of people saw it then, and its audience quickly grew thanks to word-of-mouth. It was there already when each sequel arrived.

Edited April 9, 2012 by Jake Gittes

[bryan]

2007 is old for Russia you know, the Russian BO is twice bigger this year.And look at this for Russia :

-Pirates of the Caribbean 2 (2006) : $27.5 million

-Pirates of the Caribbean 3 (2007) : $30.8 million

-Pirates of the Caribbean 4 (2011) : $63.7 million

Pirates 5: 80m

-Transformers (2007) : $15.1 million

-Transformers 2 (2009) : $18.2 million

-Transformers 3 (2011) : $45.1 million

Transformers 4: 60m

-Twilight New Moon (2009) : $18.6 million

-Twilight Eclipse (2010) : $26.4 million

-Twilight Breaking Dawn Part 1 (2011) : $31.8 million

Twilight 4.2: 0m

just kidding 40m

It's impressive, isn't it?

Fixed with some predictions

[Fullbuster]

I think Avatar 2 will be the first movie to reach the $200 million mark in Russia!

[bryan]

I think Avatar 2 will be the first movie to reach the $200 million mark in Russia!

I see it, too

[Fullbuster]

In 2015 the Russia BO will be higher than ever, so I expect big numbers in the future for blockbusters.

[Stanislav Demydenko]

Weekend estimates1. American Reunion 5,389,0592. Titanic 3D 5,202,3153. Wrath of the Titans 4,281,346 (-66%) 19,807,4284. The Spy (Rus) 2,276,5895. Project X 1,223,242 - 2,038,7366. The Hunger Games 651,583 (-75,6%) 12,945,4987. Bel Ami 632,008 (-61,8%) 2,778,5428. The Lion King 3D 629,341 (-67,8%) 5,990,1649. Lorax 265,036 (-79,1%) 15,847,17010. Tot yeshchyo Karloson! (Rus)193,680 (-85%) 10,257,54011. Raid 120,94512. John Carter 84,747 (-88%) 33,456,105.

Edited April 10, 2012 by Stanislav Demydenko

[Fullbuster]

Weekend estimates1. American Reunion 5,389,0592. Titanic 3D 5,202,3153. Wrath of the Titans 4,281,346 (-66%) 19,807,4284. The Spy (Rus) 2,276,5895. Project X 1,223,242 - 2,038,7366. The Hunger Games 651,583 (-75,6%) 12,945,4987. Bel Ami 632,008 (-61,8%) 2,778,5428. The Lion King 3D 629,341 (-67,8%) 5,990,1649. Lorax 265,036 (-79,1%) 15,847,17010. Tot yeshchyo Karloson! (Rus)193,680 (-85%) 10,257,54011. Raid 120,94512. John Carter 84,747 (-88%) 33,456,105.

$5.2 million for Titanic 3D, not bad, pretty good actually :)Total of Wrath : $19.8 million, it's a very good number, the best OS after China!

[pinocchio]

I won't pretend to be an expert for Russia (although I speak russian), but just writing down higher and higher numbers for any movie looks stupid to me. What's interesting ist that some movies outperform while others don't enjoy a proportional success...

When we discuss Russia it's not actually Russia but CIS countries (without Ukraine). Maybe we just give the Russians some bad credit they don't deserve. Don't know.

[lab276]

Russia has the vast majority of the CIS population. And I'm sure the mentality would be very similar in Belarus for example. Although I have no idea about the Central Asian countries.

Edited April 10, 2012 by lab276

[pinocchio]

Two third (excluding Ukraine), that's a majority, but not a huge one.

[lab276]

That's less than I thought. But I'm sure it contains an even greater percentage of cinema admissions.

[Rudolf]

Two third (excluding Ukraine), that's a majority, but not a huge one.

A lot of non Russian CIS-people are ethnic Russians.

[Bluebomb]

Weekend estimates1. American Reunion 5,389,0592. Titanic 3D 5,202,3153. Wrath of the Titans 4,281,346 (-66%) 19,807,4284. The Spy (Rus) 2,276,5895. Project X 1,223,242 - 2,038,7366. The Hunger Games 651,583 (-75,6%) 12,945,4987. Bel Ami 632,008 (-61,8%) 2,778,5428. The Lion King 3D 629,341 (-67,8%) 5,990,1649. Lorax 265,036 (-79,1%) 15,847,17010. Tot yeshchyo Karloson! (Rus)193,680 (-85%) 10,257,54011. Raid 120,94512. John Carter 84,747 (-88%) 33,456,105.

Really good for Titanic.

[Fullbuster]

Two third (excluding Ukraine), that's a majority, but not a huge one.

Theaters are pretty rare in the other CIS countries, and Russians have a way higher buying power, so the other CIS countries are insignificant about the BO.We can say "Russia".

[Bluebomb]

I usually just go with the market that is biggest. Like Russia, UK, France, etc.

Edited April 10, 2012 by Bluebomb

[Fullbuster]

RUSSIA BOX OFFICE 5 APRIL - 8 APRIL ADMISSIONS1-American Reunion - 715,000 admissions2-Titanic 3D - 518,0003-Wrath of The Titans - 471,000 (TOTAL = 2,242,000)................................5-Project X - 164,0006-The Hunger Games - 101,000 (TOTAL = 1,837,000)7-The Lion King 3D - 82,000 (TOTAL = 808,000)TOTAL ADMISSIONS FOR :-John Carter - 3,732,000-The Lorax - 2,094,000It's very impressive for American Reunion, apparently Russians like US comedies.

Edited April 10, 2012 by Fullbuster

[Fullbuster]

BOX OFFICE 2012 (FOR THE MOMENT,OBVIOUSLY) :1-John Carter: $33.5 million2-Wrath of the Titans : $19.6 million3-Journey 2: $17.5 million4-The Lorax: $15.8 million5-Ghost Rider 2: $13.3 million6-This Means War: $13 million7-The Hunger Games : $12.9 millionImpressive for Wrath, and THG has a good performance, it will surpass This Means War and Ghost Rider 2 next week.

Edited April 10, 2012 by Fullbuster

[Fullbuster]

Battleship could beat John Carter I think.