u/DiligentApartment139

Guy Ritchie's In the Grey dominated yesterday Russian box office with 25.1 mln RUB or $351k. The third best opening day for foreign releases this year after The Housemaid and The Drama. And exchange rates are much better right now.

Should make around $2.1-2.2 mln Thursday-Sunday. Less than his previous hits but still decent numbers. The 2nd best foreign opening weekend after The Drama. The Housemaid opened during New Year holidays and had exceptionally strong legs afterwards.

Obsession grossed $96k on Thursday and $108k including previews. Likely $500-550k opening weekend. Let's hope for good word of mouth.

All previous foreign releases dropped yesterday very hard. Michael is up to $92k in presales, any prediction is stll a wild guess. In CIS countries Michael added $32 466 with only 29% week-to-week drop. $2 801 546 total. The Devil Wears Prada 2 grossed terrific $4 013 973 in 22 days.

The Mandalorian and Grogu bombed with pathetic $41k opening day in CIS countries. A very disappointing opening day even with mild expectations.

Last weekend in Russia box office was the worst since September. 458.19 mln RUB or $6.26 mln cumulative gross. However Prada provided almost 40% so only $3.75 mln for all official releases put together. Due to some weird circumstances no Mortal Kombat 2. Long story short theaters are afraid to show Warner Bros. films for now.

Local criminal drama Kommersant ($706k 4th weekend and $5.56 mln total) edged animation movie based on TV-series Leo and Tig. Road to Baikal ($674k opening weekend and $684k including previews). War dramas dropped hard, a local comedy Mommy Down to the Ride bombed with only $203k opening weekend.

The Magic Faraway Tree held reasonably well with 41% drop. $276k 2nd weekend in Russia and $961k in 11 days. $1.05 mln including CIS countries. Hokum surprised with only 37% drop: $213k 2nd weekend and $696k in 11 days, $746k including CIS countries.

The Drama is finally winding down with $167k 6th weekend after 57% drop. 697.2 mln RUB or $9 mln total. Around $9.2 mln with more favorable ComScore exchange rates. 1 243 511 admissions Russia + CIS.

Foreign openers: 9th place Over Your Dead Body ($161 810 in 687 theaters), 11th place Homecam ($83 169 in 583 theaters), 20th place Cocorico 2 ($19 727 in 133 theaters), 27th place Io non ti lascio solo ($10 600 in 120 theaters).

Total grosses for foreign hits and some recent releases: How to Make a Killing $5 186 139, Marty Supreme $4 953 736 (Russia only), Chainsaw Man $3 142 554 (Russia only), , La Grazia $572 188 Undertone $472 447 Marsupilami $426 168 Normal $405 340 Woodwalkers 2 $303 758 (Russia only), Bodycam $239 411, Beast $209 023, Flavia $120 192.

Two rather interesting foreign openings tomorrow. In The Grey banked $133k in presales and should have at least $2.5 mln opening weekend. Guy Ritchie is still popular in Russia and this movie looks a lot closer to his biggest hits than some recent misses. $19k presales for Obsession. Around $600-700k opening weekend I would say.

A week before premiere Michael has $74 499 in presales. Still nothing to compare. Don't expect huge opening, however similar to other countries legs might be very good especially with strong summer weekdays.

In CIS countries The Devil Wears Prada 2 added $377 288 (-56%) with $3 835 334 total. Michael grossed $298 283 with only 31% drop. $2 635 593 in 26 days. Mortal Kombat 2 dropped hard with $267 270 2nd weekend and $1 318 439 in 11 days. Finally The Sheep Detectives had rather mediocre opening weekend with $112 816.  

The second weekend of May holidays clearly disappointed Russian movie theaters with only 446.24 mln RUB or $5.99 mln cumulative gross. The worst weekend since last September, 37% less than last year.

Local films Kommersant and Angels of Ladoga were still fighting for the lead and once again criminal drama beat war drama with $1.09 mln vs $940k third weekend gross. Angels of Ladoga were slightly ahead by cumulative gross: $4.43 mln against $4.35 mln but by now Kommersant pulled away.

The Magic Faraway Tree opened on 4th place with $472k in Russia and $528k including CIS countries. $750k total by Thursday. A reasonably good start, people mostly like it, should hold reasonably well this weekend.

The Drama stayed 5th with $401k (-48%) 5th weekend. $8.69 mln total with 1 201 870 admissions. About $8.8 mln with more favorable ComScore exchange rates.

Hokum was 6th with $338k in Russia and $367k including CIS countries. A good opening too, one of the best ever for its distributor.

Other foreign openers: 17th place Rufus: The Sea Serpent Who Couldn't Swim ($60 550 in 898 theaters), 19th place Discussion Materials ($48 026 in 268 theaters), 24th place Solo Mio ($27 324 in 152 theaters), 27th place Point Break ($18 886 in 79 theaters re-release).

Total grosses for foreign hits and some recent releases: How to Make a Killing $5 176 299, Marty Supreme $4 952 799 (Russia only), Chainsaw Man $3 142 402 (Russia only), Undertone $416 016, La Grazia $413 760, Woodwalkers 2 $303 312 (Russia only), Bodycam $210 936, Beast $185 932, Flavia $110 596.

Situation drastically changed on Monday with unofficial ban ended for hollywood studio films. The Devil Wears Prada 2 drew huge crowds especially in Moscow. I estimate at least $700k in one day, unofficial gross obviously. Mortal Kombat 2 copies will be available on Saturday.

Presales officially started for Michael with 1 958 943 RUB or $26 375 so far. As for bad news the movie received ridiculous "18+" age restrictions rating. A common trait that foreign releases get much stricter age restriction than local. Technically no one below 18 can buy a ticket or watch a movie. Not always enforced but still will harm box offiice potential obviously.

In other news horror Evil Dead Burn will be released on July, 16. A week later than in America and Europe. Apparently Russian local distributor bought rights via some 3rd party.

In CIS countries The Devil Wears Prada 2 had very strong 2nd weekend with $841 577 (-50%). Grossed $3 457 720 in two weeks. Mortal Kombat 2 opened strong with $781 918 for the weekend and $1 049 672 opening week. Michael added $423 720 (-26%) with $2 336 379 in three weeks.

Yesterday was a national holiday in Kazakhstan. One of the biggest day ever in the market with $690 673 gross and 132 414 tickets sold.

A local criminal comedy At Least in the Movies 4 ($193 200 opening day) beat both Mortal Kombat 2 ($169 114) and The Devil Wears Prada 2 ($126 190). Michael was 4th yesterday ($60 293) with 38% increase compared to previous week.

In all CIS countries Mortal Kombat 2 had huge opening day. $224 670 in 151 theaters with a few locations still to report. Should make at least $750-800k for the weekend, maybe even more.

The Devil Wears Prada 2 added $194 402 yesterday. With $2.48 mln in 8 days it is already the most successful hollywood studio release this year. Will be available in Russian theaters after May, 11, and presales are huge. Unofficially of course, no money for studio and official box office.

Finally Michael is having very good legs. Grossed $84 802 on Thursday and $1.79 mln in 16 days. Many Russian theaters opened presales for May, 28, with official release. No significant activity so far and ticket prices in many locations are sky high.

Nothing much going on in Russia. Local criminal drama Kommersant and war drama Angels of Ladoga are still fighting for the top two spots. $3.43 mln and $3.62 mln in 15 days. Horror Hokum opened on 5th place with $50k, The Magic Faraway Tree was 6th yesterday with $43k. We are expecting around $250k and $400-450k opening weekends.

The Drama added $53k yesterday with $8.43 mln total. Passed million admissions recently in Russia without CIS. The 2nd best gross among all foreign markets after UK. 9th among all foreign releases in Russia since big studios boycott.

Huge opening day for The Devil Wears Prada 2 in CIS countries with $355k and 56 327 admissions reported so far. The biggest since Avatar 3 in December and probably among the Top10 best ever. Hard to say how much it will be frontloaded but right now we can expect at least $1.6-1.7 mln opening weekend.

Once again those numbers are from CIS countries, mainly Kazakhstan, not from Russia.

Michael is holding well with only 12% week-to-week drop. $77k on Thurday with $995k total.

Local movies will dominate during May holidays in Russia (two long weekends May 1-3 and May 9-11). All unofficial or pirated releases are paused till May, 11. Rather unexpectedly criminal drama Kommersant ($213k on Thursday) is pulling away from war dramas Angels of Ladoga ($167k) and Litvyak ($83k).

The Drama added $125k yesterday with 580 mln RUB or $7.55 mln total. 905k admissions in Russia, already passed million admissions with CIS countries included. Still heading for around $10 mln final gross.

Undertone opened on 7th with $50k. Around $250-260k opening weekend. Another canadian horror Bodycam grossed $26k yesterday and Beast made $25k. Abysmally poor opening day for british family film Flavia (around $5500) thanks to no advertising and ridiculous 16+ rating.

La Grazia is making huge money in some art-house theaters with outrageous ticket prices up to 2000-2200 roubles ($25-27). Already banked around $160k including previews.

Rather small markets still some people might be interested. All numbers in €. Michael dominates but holdovers are not destroyed.

Lithuania box office. Weekend April 24-26.

№	Film	Weekend gross	Total gross	Drop	Screens	Week
1	Michael	129 224	162 182		21	1
2	The Super Mario Galaxy Movie	51 032	389 865	+3	26	4
3	Project Hail Mary	36 229	618 019	-5	12	6
4	The Pout Pout Fish	29 422	29 422		20	1
5	The Drama	25 459	165 290	-20	18	3

Latvia box office. Weekend April 24-26.

№	Film	Weekend gross	Total gross	Drop	Screens	Week
1	Michael	105 163	105 163		18	1
2	The Super Mario Galaxy Movie	31 005	221 148	+18	24	4
3	Project Hail Mary	15 473	281 328	-13	9	6
4	The Drama	13 211	87 218	-19	8	3
5	Lee Cronin's The Mummy	9 604	32 380	-29	10	2

Estonia box office. Weekend April 24-26.

№	Film	Weekend gross	Total gross	Drop	Theaters	Week
1	Michael	135 843	135 843		27	1
2	The Super Mario Galaxy Movie	31 974	360 362	-19	19	4
3	Project Hail Mary	15 025	349 732	-28	13	6
4	Hoppers	11 711	319 074	+5	13	8
5	The Drama	8 627	113 336	-38	11	4