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BOX OFFICE Romania

For the first time at the Romanian box office, four national films end up in the country’s yearly top ten

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- Although the overall top was dominated by Barbie and Oppenheimer, the four highest domestic earners were still watched by almost 1.5 million cinemagoers

For the first time at the Romanian box office, four national films end up in the country’s yearly top ten
Miami Bici 2 by Jesús del Cerro, the most-watched Romanian film of 2023

It’s been three decades since yearly box-office figures were first made public in Romania, and for the first time, as many as four domestic releases ended up in the top ten in 2023. The overall top is dominated by Barbie and Oppenheimer [+see also:
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, with more than 1.1 million combined admissions, but in third position we have Jesús del Cerro’s Miami Bici 2, which was watched by 430,000 Romanians in only three weeks.

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The sequel to Miami Bici [+see also:
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, a record breaker whose run in local cinemas was cut short by the 2020 lockdown (see the news), Miami Bici 2 centres on two friends from provincial Romania who try to make it big in the United States. This Vidra Productions project was poorly received by critics for its combination of bad taste and sexploitation, but cinemagoers flocked to the 183 screens where Miami Bici 2 was available, after the widest release of the year.

Also in the top ten we have Romina, VTM [+see also:
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, another Vidra Productions film, which focuses on a young girl trying to save her father’s seaside bar. With a musical score dominated by the manele genre, Romina, VTM attracted a huge crowd on its first weekend, with the cinemas being forced to greatly increase the number of screenings owing to the unexpected popular demand. Romina, VTM had the best overall debut of 2023, with as many as 233,000 admissions taken in its first weekend, but negative word of mouth led to the film dropping a shocking 87% (a new, negative record) in its second week. Even so, with a total of 360,000 admissions, Romina, VTM is still a top-ten movie in Romania.

After the success of Mirciulică, which was one of the two top-ten domestic releases of 2022 (see the news), popular YouTuber Mircea Popa returned with a sequel, Wedding for Money, about a young man who tries to solve his financial problems through a profitable wedding. This Bravo Films production was watched by 368,000 Romanians over nine weeks. Finally, the fourth domestic release in the top ten is The Action Pack, another Vidra Productions film that ended its stay in cinemas with a total of 322,000 admissions. Incidentally, another popular domestic release was Ramon, also directed by Jesús del Cerro, which occupies the 13th position at the yearly box office, with 198,000 tickets sold.

Unfortunately, arthouse films fared less well: Tudor Giurgiu’s Libertate [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tudor Giurgiu & Cecilia Ste…
film profile
]
sold 38,000 tickets in nine weeks, Ion Borș’s Carbon [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
16,000, Bogdan Mirica’s Boss [+see also:
film review
film profile
]
10,000, Alexandru Solomon’s Arsenie. An Amazing Afterlife [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alexandru Solomon
film profile
]
8,000, Mihai Mincan’s To the North [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mihai Mincan
film profile
]
and Radu Jude’s Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Radu Jude
film profile
]
5,000, and Andrei Tănase’s Day of the Tiger [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Andrei Tănase
film profile
]
4,000.

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