Like most places in the world, Russia's silver screens are dominated by Hollywood's global blockbusters. Russia's film industry has struggled with the financial crisis, but is also still capable of occasionally putting out a film that can compete locally with the American machine. Once a month, SRAS provides a lineup of the top five movies in Russia by box office take - with the official Russian-language trailers from YouTube and, for those Russian films on the list, additional commentary taken from the Russian Modern Film page of our Library.
Below are films listed with their English and Russian titles (note that they differ sometimes) as well as how much the film has earned over the calendar month.
1. «Высоцкий. Спасибо, что живой» - Vysotsky. Thank you for being alive (Rus) -$27.4m
Vladimir Vysotsky was a Soviet singer, songwriter, poet, and actor whose career had an immense and enduring effect on Russian culture. He became widely known for his unique singing style and for his lyrics, which featured social and political commentary in often humorous street jargon. He was also a prominent stage and screen actor. This film was written and directed by his son and stirred up rather controversial responses from the Russian public. It is based on true events of five dramatic days of Vysotsky’s life in the summer 1979 when the actor had a near-death experience on-stage during one of his concerts in Uzbekistan. He met his actual death just one year later.
2. «Ёлки 2» - Christmas Trees 2 (Rus) -$24.5m
A sequel to the popular film “Elki” (2010), this film continues the theme of New Years’ magic and romantic and comic adventures. It consists of several individual stories taking places in different cities across Russia which involve some of the characters of the original film.
3. «Шерлок Холмс: Игра теней» - Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows - $21.7m
Sherlock Holmes is an incredibly popular character in Russia, in large part because of the success of a Soviet television series made surrounding the character. Even many English Sherlock Holmes afficiandos argue that Vasily Livanov was the greatest Holmes of all time. That said, the new movies starring Robert Downing Junior have also been quite popular in Russia. The translation of the movie’s name here contains no surprises – it is a direct translation.
4. «Иван Царевич и Серый Волк» -Ivan Tsarevich i Seryy Volk (Rus) -$20.8m
Another animated film from the creators of the popular cartoon “Три богатыря” series based on Russian folk legends whose characters are well-known to the Russian public from early childhood. Vasilisa, the Tsar’s daughter, is smart and beautiful, but is not ready to get married quite yet, she is looking to get a second higher education first. Then her father decides to marry her out to ‘the next man’… which just happens to be Ivan from the neighboring kingdom. But to marry a Tsar’s daughter is not an easy task and the man must prove himself worthy through a series of adventures.
5. «О чем еще говорят мужчины» - What Men Still Talk About (Rus) - $13.8m
This comical production of a theatre group “Квартет И” is a sequel to their film “О чём говорят мужчины” (What Men Talk About) released in 2010. The four friends from the original film get together on December 31st to celebrate New Years and end up discussing ageless questions about the relationship between men and women, work and recreation, and now, as they are getting older, of life in general and the peculiarities of middle age.
