05-07-2013

Child's Pose Raises Weak Romanian Attendance

By
    Călin Peter Netzer Călin Peter Netzer

    BUCHAREST: With 103,352 admissions Călin Peter Netzer's family drama launched on 8 March 2013 became the most successful Romanian film in the last 11 years. The box office of 275,342EUR/1,224,763RON makes it the most successful Romanian film in the last 20 years.

    By comparison, 70,680 was the total admissions of the eight domestic films opening in Romania in the first six months of 2012.

    Produced and launched by Parada Film (paradafilm.ro) in 37 prints, Child's Pose was still running on four screens in its seventeenth week. However Asociaţia Film Romania which calculates the box office is pointed out that there is a big distance between the first and second place film, Adrian Sitaru’s bitter sweet comedy Domestic which sold 12,351 tickets since 1 March 2013, taking in 13,379 EUR/59,765 RON.

    The hit of mid-2012 was the comedy S-a furat mireasa/The Bride Was Stolen by Jesus del Cerro with 17, 754 admissions and 66,494 EUR/295,779 RON.

    In the box office of 2013, Sitaru’s film was overshadowed by another comedy made by Jesus del Cerro, Mamaia/Grandma. The film produced by MediaPro Pictures (http://www.mediapropictures.com/) and distributed by MediaPro Distribution (http://www.mediaprodistribution.com/) took in 34,412 EUR/153,719 RON and sold 10,502 tickets since its opening on 19 April 2013. It was released in 34 prints compared to Domestic which was released on 24 screens.

    Other domestic premieres have even worse results. A Farewell to Fools/ Condamnat la viaţă, by Bogdan Dreyer, launched by Family Film General Distribution in 40 prints in 15 March 2013 took in approximately 21,005 EUR/93,831 RON and had 7,360 admissions.

    Horaţiu Mălăele’s tragic-comedy Funeralii fericite/Happy Funerals, Marian Crişan’s Rocker, Andrei Zincă’s love story Puzzle, the independent thirller Killing Time by Florin Piersic, Jr. and the Romanian minority coproduction Sette opere di misericordia/Seven Works of Mercy by Gianluca and Massimo de Serio sold 16,031 tickets.

    Otherwise the trend of the general box office is very positive. A recent report from Dodona Research (http://www.dodona.co.uk/), Cinemagoing Central Europe states that Romania and Slovakia have the fastest growing markets. In Romania box office has more than tripled since 2007 and admissions nearly doubled as a result of the new multiplexes which grew from 117 to 264 in just five years. The boom was 2010 when the audience in Romanian cinemas almost doubled compared to 2009.