Bulgarian Boxoffice Update - Weekend 7-9 October

Who needs a makeover to be #1?

Contrary to my expectations, the distributor of Operacia - Shmenti Kapeli has announced its boxoffice result for the weekend, which was a clever move as the Bulgarian movie easily beats the competition and lands at #1 with BGN 108,030. The title attracted viewers with its steady advertising, well-known actors, comedic elements and the popularity of Shmenti Kapeli's driving force - Vladi Vargala. In comparison, the last Bulgarian behemoth Love.net started with BGN 189,729 this April.

Speaking of the competition, heavyweight Hollywood champion Real Steel has to  reconcile with the runner-up slot. The Hugh Jackman robot actioner earns BGN 74,869 - a good, but not spectacular result having in mind the big marketing push and the Imax screenings. In comparison, Transformers 3 opened with BGN 326,316.

Killer Elite continues to draw money in its second weekend and has cemented further the superstar status of Jason Statham and Robert DeNiro in Bulgaria. It falls by mere 31% and already has the great BGN 306,291 result so far.

No one can stop Spy Kids 4 from attracting audiences and although cinemas allegedly have run out of the smelly cards, it moves back by mere 12% and has BGN 147,616 so far. 

At #5 The Smurfs 3 also eases by 12% but has the far more spectacular BGN 963,122 in its suitcase. 

Next up at #6 arrives the third new entry of the week. Horror disaster Dream House manages to scare just BGN 17,588, which is expected but poor in view of all talent involved. As the genre is not considerably popular in Bulgaria, there are not many films released here with which we can make any comparisons. 

Abduction comes next at #7, with BGN 136,900 in total, and a decrease of 43% in its third week. It is followed by Johnny English Reborn, which falls 43% and has BGN 248,225 so far.

Last week's débutante, Crazy Stupid Love fades away relatively slowly with 30% but with an underwhelming boxoffice of just BGN 54,029. It's a shame, really...

The top ten is wrapped up by Final Destination 5, which can boast BGN 201,107 so far.

This week's top ten is left by I Don't Know How She Does It, with BGN 77,587 - not bad but not spectacular either; Drive, with the surprisingly strong for the genre BGN 86,239; and Conan The Barbarian with the just okay BGN 342,776. Still, if you take into account all the fuss around Conan and its Bulgarian production, I'm sure that the distributors have expected much more...

Compared to my projections, both Real Steel and Dream House came significantly close to my BGN 80,000 and BGN 15,000 predictions. No figures on Largo Winch 2 performance were revealed.

Next weekend's projections:

Ostrovyt (BG) - BGN 20,000

The Three Musketeers - BGN 120,000

(BGN 1 = USD 0.68/EUR 0.51)