Bulgarian Box Office Update - Weekend 18-20 May

To be on top suits him well

Following a steady promotional campaign, the lack of any major competitors and the fact that it is actually a worldwide premiere, Sacha Baron Cohen's latest vehicle The Dictator manages to steal BGN 139,641 for the weekend (157,091, incl. two days of previews). With that start The Dictator will have no problems whatsoever to beat the USD 139,389 and USD 120,600 respective final tallies of Borat and Bruno. The great weekend result also marks the best debut of a non-3D release for this year.

Expectedly the second new entry of the week bombs at #6 with the awful BGN 10,384. Parade may have been a hit in Serbia but that's no excuse for Bulgarians to go and watch a comedy with gay themes.

Worst though is the performance of Act Of Valor at #7. The fact that a military action pic tanks with less than BGN 10,000 for the weekend means that local audiences like these kind of movie only when they are anchored by popular names (Stallones or Diesels).

The top 10 in full:
 

	movie	Change w/w	Result for the weekend (in BGN)	Total result (in BGN)
1.	The Dictator	new	139,641	157,091
2.	The Avengers	-39%	95,746	899,672
3.	Dark Shadows	-33%	22,723	92,964
4.	Safe	-29%	18,526	233,817
5.	Pirates!	24%	14,706	239,994
6.	Parade	new	10,384	10,384
7.	Act of Valor	new	9,226	21,274
8.	Intouchables	-11%	8,033	32,094
9.	Summer Vacation	-54%	6,496	32,991
10.	Wrath of the Titans	14%	6,347	697,629

This week the top ten is left by American Reunion. The fourth instalment of the lucrative comedy franchise has collected BGN 448,732, which makes it perhaps the best in the group. No comparative figures are available. Bel Ami is also out with BGN 73,251, which is not that bad for such a kind of indie fare. This could not be said however for Battleship, which has made BGN 265,135 - a result far from a serious blockbuster status. Maybe the fact that it is no released in 3D has curbed its chances.

Compared to my projections, The Dictator was clearly underestimated with my BGN 47,000 forecast, while Parade came below my BGN 17,000 prediction. Act of Valor was close to my BGN 27,000 projection.

Next weekend's projections:

Men in Black 3 - 175,000
Chernobyl Diaries - 12,000

(1 BGN =  0.64 USD / EUR 0.51)