Bulgarian Box Office Update - Weekend 9-11 March

Even they failed to see the success coming

Defying all expectations, John Carter crashes the box office this weekend in Bulgaria, topping the chart with the gigantic BGN 268,664 (273,944, including previews on Thursday). The success of the movie has to be sought in the appeal of sci-fi/adventure films to most of Bulgarians (it's a macho country after all), the strong promotion and the IMAX screening. It perhaps is no coincidence that unlike most of the world, John Carter also had a monstrous debut in Russia...

Last weekend's champion Beauty and The Beast 3D retreats with just 17% and will have extremely bright box office run in the country. Bulgarian title Rapid Reaction Corps also stabilises and after a so-so debut slows down by just 16%. However, the arrival of another Bulgarian title - The Foreigner next Friday will probably take its toll. 

The arrival of The Descendants at #6 with the meagre BGN 13,227 shows for yet another time that there is no audience currently for serious and thought-proving movies. The fact that it's a hit elsewhere and stars George Clooney is irrelevant. Nothing is able to bring the people who like such movies (if there are any left here) to the multiplexes. Oh, if they prefer a small arthouse cinema, the film is not screened at present in the two left. 

Furthermore, the debut of Ave at #7 with BGN 12,284 also proves that Bulgarian thought-provoking movies are destined to be flops. Of course, the lack of any buzz around the movie, or even a press screening, didn't help either. 

The top ten in full:

	movie	Change w/w	Result for the weekend (in BGN)	Total result (in BGN)
1.	John Carter	-	268,664	273,944
2.	Beauty And The Beast	-17%	50,694	134,222
3.	Rapid Reaction Corps	-16%	43,689	152,872
4.	This Means War	-31%	36,450	315,984
5.	Journey 2	-46%	33,212	446,706
6.	Descendants	-	13,227	13,227
7.	Ave	-	12,284	12,284
8.	Safe House	-18%	10,346	238,383
9.	Ghost Rider 2	-62%	6,660	125,625
10.	The Artist	-57%	5,275	47,504

This week the top ten is left by Seeking Justice. The latest Nic Cage movie has suffered the presence of the superior (at least in terms of marketing) Ghost Rider 2 and has made just BGN 23,374 for ten days in cinemas. As it will have no room to stabilise, expect it to rank among the biggest flops of Cage in Bulgaria. The Vow, with its BGN 110,126, is definitely not a disappointment but in view of its timing and promotion, probably its distributors had projected bigger things for it. The great War Horse leaves the top ten with only BGN 66,874. After the fiasco with Tintin last year, I won't be surprised if the next film of Spielberg gets no release in Bulgaria at all. It's not that the audience here doesn't deserve such a treatment... (yes, I'm bad today)

Compared to my projections, John Carter was clearly underestimated with my BGN 132,000 forecast, while The Descendants and Ave came closer to my BGN 17,000 and BGN 15,000 predictions. 

Next weekend's predictions:

21 Jump Street - 48,000

The Foreigner (Bulgarian) - 46,000

(1 BGN = USD 0.68 = EUR 0.58)