The Rise of the Empire: historical drama about Peter the Great topped the Russian box office

Over the past weekend, Russian cinemas were visited by 2.1 million viewers, 0.5 million more than a week earlier. The historical blockbuster "The Birth of an Empire" is expected to become the leader of the Russian box office. In the first weekend, he earned 235 million rubles. The top 3 also includes the fantasy "Miracle Yudo" (138 million rubles) and "The Tale of Lost Time" (129 million rubles). Izvestia evaluated the preliminary results of the national box office over the weekend.

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Andrey Kravchuk's historical drama about Peter the Great topped the domestic box office, earning more than 235 million rubles in its debut weekend, according to the EAIS (Unified Federal Automatic Information System for Information about film Screenings in cinemas. — Ed.). The director invited Alexander Gorbatov to play the main role of the first Russian emperor. The image of his closest associate Alexander Menshikov was embodied by Milos Bikovic. The cast also includes Viktor Dobronravov, Sergey Garmash, Alexey Guskov, Yulia Peresild, Ksenia Utekhina, Sergey Shakurov, Alexander Yatsenko, Alexander Yatsko.

The battle scenes became the main magnet for the adult audience, providing the film with excellent occupancy of the halls. 470 thousand viewers came to watch the four-year work of the film crew on the first weekend.

"The Birth of an Empire is an example of how large—scale cinema can be made in Russia, which can attract a large audience to cinemas," Olga Zinyakova, general director of the KARO cinema chain, said in an interview with Izvestia. — But this does not mean that the viewer is ready to completely abandon foreign releases. Diversity is a key factor in high—quality audience rotation and high attendance. The thriller "Tower 2" and the biopic "Michael" found an audience and showed excellent results for their genres. It's great when foreign and Russian projects can work in synergy and fill the cinema repertoire with high-quality content.

Last weekend, however, the only major foreign novelty that managed to break through the dominance of domestic releases was the plasticine animation "Sean the Lamb and the Shaggy Monster." She earned 20.5 million rubles at the start. The British project attracted the franchise's devoted fans and audience due to its signature frame-by-frame aesthetics and recognizable humor.

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The second line of the box office was held by the family fantasy "Miracle Yudo", which added another 138 million rubles to its piggy bank. In two weeks of rental, the film starring Sergei Bezrukov and Victoria Isakova earned more than 360 million rubles. The main reason for the persistence of the release and the overall increase in fees was the ongoing school holidays, which provided the project with a strong influx of children's audience. An additional driver was the positive "sundress": surveys at the exit from the halls confirm the high loyalty of parents who are ready to choose such a product for family viewing.

Completing the top three, "The Tale of Lost Time," produced by the Andreasyan Brothers film company and Gorky Film Studio, earned 129 million rubles over the weekend. The success of the film is due to the strong cast. The film stars Alexander Lykov, Tatiana Orlova, Alexey Maklakov, Ivan Okhlobystin, Vitaly Khaev, Lyudmila Artemyeva. As well as the competent planning of the distributor, who used a large pool of screens — 2065 — in the face of a temporary shortage of fresh game comedies on the market. This is slightly less than that of the rental leader. "The Birth of an Empire" was shown in 2,148 cinemas in the country.

The domestic racing action game "Battle of Motors" secured the fourth place, collecting about 123 million rubles more in four days. The film retains stable audience interest due to its cast (starring Yura Borisov and Ivan Yankovsky), high-quality special effects and dynamic plot, attracting predominantly male and youth audiences to cinemas. The fifth line of the chart was taken by the fabulous remake of "Morozko", which collected 89 million rubles.

The musical biopic "Hands Up! 2", which added another 23 million rubles to the piggy bank. The secret lies in a powerful bet on nostalgia for an audience of 30-40 years old. Overall, the number of viewers increased significantly over the past weekend, from 1.6 million to 2.1 million.

— Firstly, it is the appearance of a major bright novelty, which has generated a great wave of interest in rental, — explained Olga Zinyakova. Secondly, there is a variety of repertoire — now in the cinema you can find a large-scale adult project "Battle of Motors", and fabulous releases for every taste for a family audience ("Miracle Yudo", "Tale of Lost Time", "Morozko"), and many other genre films ("Sinister. House of the Dead", "Twilight. The saga. New Moon", "Tower 2"). Such a rich repertoire ensures that every viewer will find something for themselves.

Russian film distribution demonstrates enviable stability. The synergy of an expensive historical blockbuster, a foreign animation novelty and several major fabulous releases at once allowed cinemas to maintain high attendance dynamics. The audience's interest clearly proves that large-scale dramatic canvases and high-quality films for the whole family remain the main drivers of the national film industry.