Bulgarian Box Office Update - Weekend 25-27 November

There'll be presents for everyone this year

It's always good to witness those rare moments when the local audience shows a little sense and actually goes to see a movie that is worth it. Thus, this weekend, Arthur Christmas storms its way to the top of the box office with BGN 97,248. The result is better than flicks such as Despicable Me or Megamind, but is far behind Tangled or Shrek 4. Anyway, I expect the Aardman animation to draw cash as the holidays approach. (And fingers crossed that the awful Happy Feet 2 (out on Friday) does not stop it).

The Immortals continues its steady performance, losing just 14% and with a total of BGN 599,986 occupying the second place.

Previous weekend's champion Twilight suffers a 55% drop and lands with a total of BGN 372,166 at #3. In comparison, the previous instalment from the lucrative saga collapsed with 87%, which shows that New Dawn: Part One is holding on relatively well.

At #4 Operacia Shmenti Kapeli has BGN 972,117 altogether, going down just 23%.

The second new entry for the week comes in at #5. The Son Of No One managed to steal BGN 25,245, which is okay considering its qualities but having in mind that Bulgarians generally like such cop thrillers, it's disappointing that the movie couldn't get at least BGN 30,000.

And the rest of the top ten looks like this:

6. In Time - a fall of 37%, a total of BGN 501,321

7. Tower Heist - a fall of 27%, a total of BGN 169,193

8. Midnight in Paris - a fall of 30%, a total of BGN 81,729

9. Kecove - a fall of 30%, a total of 240,273


At #10 Almodovar's The Skin I Live In stumbles with BGN 7,241, but already has BGN 23,896, including previews. The movie (for reasons unknown) didn't get much of a distribution, which unfortunately means that it's chances for a strong performance are quite slim.

Compared to my predictions, Arthur Christmas met my target of around BGN 95,000, Son of No One was below my expectation for BGN 45,000 and The Skin I Live In almost reached my BGN 30,000 forecast, including previews.

Three movies say goodbye to the top ten this weekend. The Adventures of Tintin, one of the best movies of the year was met with indifference by the Bulgarians and in what is only its fourth week has just BGN 114,577. The arrival of new (child-friendly) animations means that Tim und Strupi will end its way miserably. Hopefully, it may find its audience on the home video market. Spy Kids 4 also leaves the first ten but with the much more prestigious BGN 279,434. And finally, in its 15th week, The Smurfs phenomenon has lost its charisma and the movie collapses 74%. But with BGN 1,106,945 so far, its blue magic has definitely worked out.

Next weekend's projections:

Jack and Jill - BGN 35,000 (including previews)
Happy Feet 2 - BGN 85,000
Machine Gun Preacher - BGN 22,000

(BGN 1 = USD 0.69/EUR 0.51)