"From the very beginning when we entered this project as distributors and also coproducers we believed in the Czech brand of such a film to bring people to cinema. There is a continuity between the first fairy tale and Saxana - the Lexicon of Tricks in the cast. We relied on a sort of nostalgia that appeals to local audience," Ondřej Kulhánek, executive director of distributor Film Europe said.

The results fell short of the 1 August weekend record of Jiří Vejdělek who scored over 100,000 viewers with Men in Hope (www.infilm.cz) and WWII drama Lidice (www.bioscop.cz) with 43,000 spectators. Nevertheless Kulhanek seemed to be satisfied. "Expectations were of course higher. We reacted to the big interest shown especially in one hall traditional cinemas that brought 50 percent of the audience on the first weekend. But given the unfavourable circumstances like good weather the result is okay."