29/06/2006

Move over Da Vinci, here come the Holiday Makers. Jirí Vejdelek’s debut feature Holiday Makers (Úcastníci zájezdu) is one weekend away from reaching half million admissions in the Czech box office.

The film, released in April, leads the Czech charts even over such US blockbusters as The Da Vinci Code and Ice Age 2 . The Czech box office is being dominated by national productions this year - The Rafters (Raftaci) by Karel Janák have also crossed the half million tickets barrier and Marie Polednáková’s Taming Crocodiles (Jak se krotí krokodýli) is just below it.

Local film success is helping theatres to improve on last year’s disappointing box office numbers. For the first quarter of 2006 there were 600,000 more admissions compared to the same period in 2005. Industry experts attribute the national film achievements to the fact that Czech audiences prefer films that reflect own language and attitude but also to a more practical reason: the number of copies. While distributors Falcon had 36 copies of Holiday Makers across the country, US Oscar winner Cappote was released in only one copy.

And there is more to come. Win or lose in the official competition of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival (June 30 – July 8), Jan Hrebejk’s Beauty in Trouble (Kráska v nesnázích) is almost pre-set for box office glory, when it will be released later this autumn – also in 36 copies. Hrebejk’s previous films have grossed millions of euros, with Pupendo (2003) and Pelisky (1999) reaching almost one million admissions.

The absolute box office record since 2000 belongs to another Jan Sverak film, Dark Blue World (Tmavomodry svet) which in 2001 sold 1.2 million tickets. After an absence of almost six years Sverak returns next spring with yet another feature, Returned Bottles (Vratne lahve). A new record may well be on the cards…