21-11-2011

Record Weekend for Polish Cinemas

By Katarzyna Grynienko

    WARSAW: Weekend attendance in Polish cinemas surpassed one million viewers for the first time on the weekend of 11-13 November 2011. In addition the Polish film Letters To Santa broke the box office record for 2011.

    During the three days,1,123,785 cinema tickets were sold in Polish cinemas. The previous record of 871,000 was set in June 2007. The Polish Christmas-themed comedy Letters To Santa, with 341,540 viewers, accounted for most of the additional tickets sold. It became the third best domestic opening Polish title since 1989.

    It was the second weekend in a row for record-setting attendance. The previous weekend, the comedy Integration Trip, became the biggest domestic draw of the year with 277,451 tickets sold during the three-day weekend.

    Letters To Santa was directed by Slovenian filmmaker Mitja Okorn and produced independently by TVN (www.tvn.pl). The film is distributed in Poland by ITI Cinema (www.iticinema.com.pl) in 129 copies.

    The film was well received by critics, describing it as "intelligent and funny mainstream cinema." The script follows several story lines on relationships and Christmas. The comedy has been labeled as the Polish version of the British box office hit Love Actually.

    Andrzej Wajda's film Sir Thaddeus still holds the title of the best domestic opening since 1989 (424,900 viewers during its opening weekend), followed by Love And Dance directed by Bruce Parramore (393,800 viewers on opening weekend).