18/12/2023 - From The Peasants in Poland to The Riot in Norway, European films are giving films like Barbie and Napoleon a run for their money, with some surprising results in places

In order to highlight domestic exploits in Europe similar to that of Italy’s There Is Still Tomorrow [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] - Paola Cortellesi’s debut film which has taken over 30 million euros at the box office, overtaking Barbie and Oppenheimer [+see also:
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trailer
film profile] to boot (read our article) – we need first look to Poland, where Agnieszka Holland’s controversial and opposed movie Green Border [+see also:
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film profile] - released in September following its victory in Venice – has earned itself $3,778,800 (source: IMDbPro). It was dethroned in November by DK Welchman and Hugh Welchman’s animated movie The Peasants [+see also:
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film profile] (Poland’s candidate at the Oscars) which, after a record debut week (141,000 admissions recorded), has earned upwards of $8,730,000 to date, followed in the rankings by family film O psie, który jezdzil koleja with $3,296,800 (read our article).

Whilst the domestic performance of the latest chapter of the Gallic saga Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom [+see also:
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film profile] hasn’t proved particularly overwhelming, claiming fifth place in the French national rankings, that of 3211 [+see also:
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film profile] - a hybrid music documentary about trap musician Stefan Djurić Rasta, one of former Yugoslavia’s most popular artists - might come as a surprise, as it drew no fewer than 15,409 viewers during its opening weekend in September (read our article), beating The Expendables 4, The Nun 2 and A Haunting in Venice in the rankings and earning itself $300,000 in the process. And while Yana Titova’s dramatic movie Dyad [+see also:
film review
interview: Yana Titova
film profile] is giving Napoleon a run for its money in Bulgaria, with $323,434 in earnings, Rudolf Merkner’s romantic comedy Jak přežít svého muže made its debut in the Czech Republic in 193 cinemas on 9 November, earning $291,616, and is now at $1,366,043, on the heels of Kamil Bartosek's summertime endeavour ONEMANSHOW: The Movie, which earned the second highest number of admissions in the history of national cinema during its opening weekend, pocketing 2.2 million euros in takings ($4,681,464 in total – read our news).

There’s also good news from Romania, where a handful of national films have entered the top ten: directly underneath Barbie and Oppenheimer, there’s Miami Bici 2 by Jesús del Cerro, which recorded 430,000 admissions in three weeks and takings of $2,468,760, while Paul-Răzvan Macovei's Romina VTM [+see also:
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film profile] enjoyed the best first weekend of the year, with 233,000 admissions and total earnings of $2,083,636. Wedding for Money, the sequel to the hit movie Mirciulică by YouTuber Mircea Popa, comes next in the rankings with $1,962,515.

Meanwhile, Lajos Koltai’s historic drama Semmelweis, which was released in Hungary on 30 November and whose opening weekend earned it $158,983 in 73 cinemas, is now coasting around $758,404. In Lithuania, Aš gyvas by Robertas Kuliunas exceeded $258,878, while in Norway, Nils Gaup’s historic action movie The Riot [+see also:
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film profile] has quite literally hit the box office jackpot with $1,737,938 in takings. And that’s without forgetting the local and international success of Jalmari Helander’s Finnish war film Sisu [+see also:
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film profile], which has earned upwards of $2,604,000 at home and 14 million dollars worldwide.

(Translated from Italian)