Bulgarian Boxoffice Update - Weekend 4-6 November

Tintin, it's useless trying to find yourself in the chart

(Tintin, Tower Heist ignored!)

I've been examining the trends in the Bulgarian cinema boxoffice for a year now and I've never been so ashamed by the preferences of the Bulgarian audience as I'm now. It's a fact that we, Bulgarians, tend to not follow the global tendencies as long as cinema going is concerned, but nothing reasonable can explain why The Adventures of Tintin, which is doing considerably well in Europe, bombs this week with the extremely poor BGN 26,679 at #6 (or BGN 43,216 including previews). 

So what has happened then? First, the movie was not dubbed in Bulgarian, so the parents too lazy to teach their children to read have preferred to watch (again) The Smurfs 3D. Second, current Bulgarian teenagers have never heard of Tintin (they can tell apart their Preslava and Galena only). Third, the somewhat unfocused promotion failed to make it clear that Steven Spielberg actually stands behind the project (and the lack of cinema brochures for three months now is paying its toll). But, to be honest, even this couldn't have brought the average cinema goer (think thugs-alike creatures and their chalga princesses) go and watch an animated movie about a lonely living boy and his dog...

It's not that the other new release has managed to do much better. Tower Heist, a type of a movie which is usually embraced by Bulgarians, fails to deliver much hype and crashes at #4, with BGN 36,537. And when a comedy about a heist with well-known stars bombs like that in Bulgaria, it's clear that something certainly went terribly wrong this weekend. Oh, and Tower Heist, as a Universal title, has not been released in all cinemas...

This leaves In Time untroubled at #1, with a fall of just 24%, and the extremely good BGN 255,534. Bulgaria's Operacia Shmenti Kapeli is at #2, with BGN 708,448 in total and a decrease of 17%. The third position is occupied by another local movie, Kecove, which finds its hm... feet with a fall of 24% and BGN 141,667 as a whole. 

The rest of the top ten looks like this:

5. The Three Musketeers - a total of BGN 347,935 (could have been better), a fall of 27%

6. Tintin

7. The Smurfs - a total of BGN 1,064,085 and an actual increase of 10% (seek the DVD next month and leave the cinemas empty, pls!)

8. Real Steel - a total of BGN 357,699, a fall of 25% 

9. Spy Kids 4 - a total of BGN 250,789, a fall of 10% (Shame!)

10. Ostrovyt (BG) - a total of BGN 86,258, a fall of 12%

This week the top ten is left by Contagion, which has collected BGN 76,110 so far - not so bad giving the grim premise and the fact that no-one in the multiplexes cares what the critics say, and by Killer Elite, with its supreme BGN 472,826, which once again proves that Statham-De Niro is a killing combination. 

Compared to my last week's projections, Tintin was clearly overestimated (I guess I put too much sense in the Bulgarian audience) with my forecast of BGN 110,000. Tower Heist came also below my BGN 55,000 prediction.

Next weekend's projections:

Immortals - BGN 100,000

Midnight in Paris - BGN 18,000

(BGN 1 = USD 0.71 = EUR 0.51)