The Prophet" with Yury Borisov topped the box office in Russia

Fantasy on the theme of the biography of the main Russian poet - "The Prophet. The Story of Alexander Pushkin" - was at the top of the national box office at the end of the weekend with a large margin. According to preliminary data from EAIS, the film earned 412 million rubles. In second place - a family film "Manyunya: Ba's Birthday", 143 million rubles over the weekend. On the third line fell Turkish melodrama "Leave it to the wind", the picture with the star of "Knock on my door" Hande Erchel increased its box office by 54.2 million rubles. "Izvestia" - on the preliminary results of the national box office.

"The Prophet" expectedly swept everyone under him

The most successful release of the past weekend February 13-16 was the film "The Prophet. The Story of Alexander Pushkin." Full-length directorial debut of 30-year-old Felix Umarov (at the time he started work he was 26!) for the first weekend earned 412 million rubles and leads in the EAIS rating with a large margin, including the audience. A total of 1.7 million people came to see the novelties of film distribution over the weekend. Over the weekend, the picture about Pushkin was watched by 826.6 thousand people, that is, half of the total audience. However, this figure is also due to the largest number of sessions given to "The Prophet" - 32.5 thousand in his closest competitor, the movie "Manyunya: Ba's Birthday", they are twice less - 17.4 thousand people. The "Prophet" also has the largest average number of viewers at the session - 25 people (the earnings amounted to 12.6 thousand rubles, also the maximum of this weekend).

On what turned out to be the most anticipated movie of the beginning of the year, "Izvestia" wrote in a detailed review. According to Olga Zinyakova, president of the KARO movie theater chain, "The Prophet" is not just a potential billionaire hit, but a multi-billionaire. And its resounding success was influenced by several factors at once.

- First, Pushkin is a powerful brand. Which, on the one hand, sets a very high bar. And on the other hand, it is a large-scale costume drama, made in a very fresh way. This is certainly a credit to the debutant director Felix Umarov, and the solution with rap - both on the poet's verses and on new themes - was extremely successful. And thirdly, the main role was played by Oscar nominee Yura Borisov, who is at the peak of his popularity. The promotional campaign successfully utilized this factor, viral formats worked. There was a lot of creative advertising. The number of viewers who saw the movie is approaching a million. And we expect the picture to remain a holdover for more than one week," the expert told Izvestia.

"Manyunya" vs. Hande Erchel

Second place went to the new part of the family franchise "Manyunya" from the Andreasian brothers. "Manyunya: Birthday Ba" earned 143 million rubles over the weekend, the best start among all parts of the series. This time, the red-haired girl Manyunya, along with her friends Karinka and Narine, are trying to save the anniversary of their beloved grandmother, which is not going according to plan. Over the weekend, "Ba's Birthday" was watched by 399.6 thousand people, and the sessions of this movie averaged only two less people than "Prophet" - 23. This part may become the most box office: for comparison, the previous "Manyunya: Adventures in the Village" earned 335 million rubles for the entire time.

On the third line fell Turkish melodrama "Leave it to the wind". The picture with the star of the popular series "Knock on my door" Hande Erchel earned over the past weekend only 54.2 million rubles. Total collections of this melodrama in Russia increased to 172 million rubles, but interest in the picture became a little cooler. Attendance for the week decreased from 155.7 thousand to 107.3 thousand people. At the same time, Olga Zinyakova is confident that "Leave it to the wind" decently showed itself in the face of great competition from holiday releases.

- Similar "Holop. Magnificent Century" for several weeks held in the top of the rental. "Leave it to the wind" catches up with it in terms of total box office and on the opening weekend shows the second earnings per session (10.7 thousand rubles) in the top after "The Prophet", - added the president of "KARO".

Valentine's Day affects attendance

The leader of the previous two weeks - Konstantin Buslov's historical drama "Evil City" - dropped to the fourth line of the rating. Over the weekend, the film about the defense of Kozelsk during the invasion of the Golden Horde earned 46 million rubles, increasing the total box office to 348.9 million rubles.

Immediately two films in the rating of film distribution - domestic melodramas, the release of which took place on the eve of Valentine's Day. Romcom "For Love" earned in the opening weekend of 16.7 million rubles and settled on the seventh line. Slightly less - 15.1 million rubles and eighth place - at the fantastic melodrama "ON and She", where Yulia Peresild tries to escape from an abusive relationship with an artificial intelligence.

- Valentine's Day clearly affects the influx of a certain category of viewers, because going to the movies is the most obvious and affordable way to celebrate. Russian film distribution was able to offer viewers a wide range of genre films for this holiday, - said Olga Zinyakova.

At the same time, viewers were slightly more interested in patriotic movies than in romantic content. Sarik Andreasyan's war drama "War and Music" dropped from the third to the sixth line of the EAIS rating, earning 19 million rubles over the weekend. Total fees are 77.5 million rubles, probably they could be higher if the movie was released on the eve of the May holidays.

Meanwhile, Sarik's picture was overtaken by another novelty of the week - the horror "Absolute Predator". He has 22 million rubles for the debut weekend and the fifth line of the rating. Obviously, completing its successful voyage in the box office two holdover-blockbuster: "The Wizard of Emerald City. Yellow Brick Road" and "Finist. The First Bogatyr" dropped to ninth and tenth lines, respectively. Total collections of the prequel franchise "The Last Bogatyr" reached 2.7 billion rubles, long overtaking the collections of all previous parts of the franchise.