Czech films dominated money-making 2006
by Sakis Kontos
And the band played on…alias Czech Cinema 2006. In spite of the local industry’s own pessimistic predictions and a complete failure of the state in introducing an adequate film law, Czech films made yet another splash at the box office last year.
Twenty domestic films were distributed in 2006, three of which made it to the top five of the overall box office, making it a year to remember for Czech cinema and contributing significantly to the recovery of box office receipts after a huge slump in 2005.
According to the numbers provided by the Union of Film Distributors (UFD), the most successful film of 2006 overall was Jirí Vejdelek’s debut feature Holiday Makers (Úcastníci zájezdu). It attracted 780,000 admissions, “beating out” such blockbusters as Pirates of the Caribbean: Dean Man’s Chest, The Da Vinci Code, Ice Age: The Meltdown and Cars.
Holiday Makers was followed closely by Karel Janák’s The Rafters (Raftaci), which garnered almost 700,000 admissions, and Marie Polednáková’s Taming Crocodiles (Jak se krotí krokodýli, 600,000 admissions).
The only non-comedy among the Czech hits of last year, Jan Hrebejk’s Beauty in Trouble (Kráska v nesnázích), also made it into the box office Top 10 in 2006, with nearly 300,000 admissions.
Falcon dominated the distributors’ sector, having released four of the top five films, including the top three Czech titles.
While December figures still need to come in, 2006 admissions are estimated at just above 11m, up a healthy 16% on the forgettable 2005. Total receipts are also up €7m on last year.
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