[Many thanks to Andrey for the following news from Russia.]
Night Watch director Timur Bekmambetov did it again, his latest movie release An Irony of Fate 2 has brought its producers about 35 million dollars in Russia alone and it’s still playing! Don’t forget that it doesn’t include the other countries of CIS, and I’m pretty sure that it will pass the 40 million barrier in a matter of couple of weeks. (Day Watch in this respect grossed just a bit more than 32 millions). More than that, it’s also the most profitable non-American movie in the world in these days!
So where lies the secret of such a success? For someone who’s not familiar with Russian/Soviet movie industry and whole culture, it might seem a bit strange and odd that this comedy is way ahead of any American blockbuster currently playing in Russia. But, everything has its explanation. Apart from Bekmambetov’s stunning director work, there is something that drew the attention of millions of Russians to the sequel long before it was released. The first part of Irony of Fate was on the screens for more than 30 years, and eventually it became a cult movie which was shown every single year on the national TV some days before New Year’s Day. The Army of fans was growing rapidly, millions of people seen it more than 20 or 30 times. Madness you’d say? Not really, it’s just the script, characters, and directors’ work, everything was done smoothly and neatly.
Now, isn’t it a perfect New Year’s movie for a sequel? And who’s the country’s top-notch director for such a delicate work? Russia’s number one producer – Konstantin Ernst hit it right again, when he teamed up with Bekmambetov for this project. Possessing the resources of country’s most popular TV channel (ORT), Ernst unfolded a huge advertising campaign to reach audience from Kalinigrad to Vladivostok, tapping on their emotions and loyalty toward the first part of the movie. And, it did work; the wage of curiosity toward the sequel was and still is enormous!
The work turned out to be just the right balance of humour, visual effects, and story-line. The revues and comments received from critics and regular movie-goers are mostly very positive and encouraging.
So, the new leader was born! And for now let’s see how Bekmambetov will perform with his international debut Wanted, which will be out quite soon.
I thought this looked pretty good from the trailer. Certainly it looked better than WANTED looks.
I mean the data is old.
Well, the data is always changing, the one you posted is outdated too. By now the movie grossed a bit more than 50 millions, and it might grow because distribution company will introduce special dicounts for the students and it might draw in more people. So, I'm quite sure that it will pass 55 million limit in the next couple of weeks. Anyways, I am so amazed by these results, because usually non-American movies hardly pay off ever. There very few exceptions like Amelie, the Host, or Knocking on Heaven. Therefore, this is great trend we're observing right now in the Russion movie industry. More than 25% of Russia's box-office is being generated by domestic production, and the figures are growing.