NO HOP/YOUR HIGHNESS IN BULGARIA!!!

Bulgaria is not part of the Univers(al)

With the start of 2011, surprisingly, the number of major Hollywood titles missing our big screens was kept to an absolute minimum. More or less, the only major studio pictures which did not get cinema distribution were Paramount's Never Say Never (The Justin Bieber biopic) and Sony's The Roommate. Of course, this trend was never going to last for long and the big casualties unfortunately will be registered next month.

Thus, the BG viewers will be deprived of the opportunity to enjoy two of the most exciting Universal films of the year. Yes, the Easter bunny comedy HOP and the R-rated extravaganza Your Highness will be available for now only on the Internet (and perhaps sometime later on legal DVD). There are still no reviews across the ocean and we can only judge by the trailers for their quality, but definitely they will be among the biggest MISSED OPPORTUNITIES of the year.

HOP - yes, at the end it may turn to be as stupid as Alvin and The Chipmunks - but just take a look at the bunny and the chickens in the trailer - aren't they the cutest live CG creatures for a very long time? And how often do we have Easter family movies? The answer is never! Yes, it's not 3D (so there will be no Yogi Bear magnitude cash), it has no big names but if it was dubbed in Bulgarian and with the proper advertising campaign it would have been massive around Easter. And what was the point of flooding the cinemas with all the promotional material? 

Trailer 

Your Highness - Just watch the R-rated trailer! It's so shocking that you'll not be able to stop laughing all day. And most of all it has the biggest actor and actress of the moment - James Franco and Natalie Portman! It would have been huge!

Trailer 

So what do we get instead? Rio - the chances are that this will be a second-tier staff and Fast Five - which is gonna break the BG boxoffice for sure. But first, and most importantly, we'll have Love.Net in April. The latest BG title not only has the worst trailer in a while, but actually is so poor, that Mission London will seem to you as a masterpiece. Nevertheless, it will be played in most of the cinema halls.

And finally, who is responsible? The BG distributor (Forum Film) will probably say it's not its fault. The market is small, and these movies will not bring enough money and therefore Universal has decided that we are not worthy of the titles. And perhaps they will be right, but to be treated as a second-hand market is not the best policy an international company should conduct. Still, we should not forget the poor results which Universal's last titles - Adjustment Bureau and Dilemma had in Bulgaria. I've already written about the way their distribution was handled, which lead to neglectable boxoffice and maybe now has led to this - no HOP and no Your Highness here! And don't fool yourself that the excellent Paul will reach our cinemas...

* And if somehow HOP and Your Highness reach the cinemas here, the post will disappear...