BG Boxoffice Update - Weekend 17-19 June

Looking at BO was never so scary

None of the two new entries managed to challenge the top two this weekend as in a switch of last week's top positions Pirates 4 reclaims the top position for a third cumulative week. With above BGN 1.8m on its boat, the movie is to cross the 2m threshold soon to become one of the biggest hits in the contemporary Bulgarian cinema history.

Kung Fu Panda 2 tumbles to the second place with the alarming decline of 61%. Po and the gang already have BGN 523,803 for three weeks in cinemas, though the decrease of above 60% and the arrival of Cars 2 next weekend do not bode well for the panda's future boxoffice results. We all know that Bulgarians love animation but perhaps the sun will not shine in the Panda-world for long this time...

The highest new entry comes in at #3 in the face of the more-than-excellent Super 8. The JJ Abrams nostalgia flick earns almost BGN 30,000 over the weekend and BGN 67,153, including previews, which shows quite strange front-loaded demand for the starless movie. Though not a spectacular result, the figures for Super 8 at least show that sometimes good pictures can find a respectable audience here.

At #5 X-Men: First Class slows off with the disturbing 58% but still and, proving why the weekend doesn't matter anymore, it has above BGN 150,000 so far -- a result boosted by the cheaper prices during the week and especially on Thursdays.

The lack of strong promotion (it's an independent title) and the complete absence of any huge names in the cast have taken their toll for the second new entry this week. Thus Something Borrowed joins the top ten with the miserable BGN 8,791. Even the fact that some of the big comedies this year - Bridesmaids, Change-up, Paul, Your Highness (and yes, I'm getting boring, I know) - couldn't help this little movie to blossom. Next weekend's Bad Teacher will completely destroy it...

Compared to my projections, Super 8 was almost on target with my BGN 60,000 forecast, while Something Borrowed missed my expectation of BGN 25,000 by a mile.

Next weekend's projections:

Cars 2 - BGN 200,000
Bad Teacher - BGN 75,000

(Sources: Cinema sites from Bulgaria)
(1 BGN = USD 0.73 = EUR 0.5)