In "August" 2025: novelties failed to move the film adaptation of Bogomolov

The military drama "August" with Sergey Bezrukov does not slow down and continues to attract viewers to cinemas. More than a third of all Russians who bought movie tickets last weekend went to see a picture based on the novel by Vladimir Bogomolov. She remained at the top of the box office. It was followed by Luc Besson's "Dracula", as before, and all new releases had to be content with a small percentage of the audience. Izvestia summarizes the preliminary results of the film weekend.

Sergey Bezrukov became Captain Alekhine

As you know, the fate of the film adaptations of the novel "The Moment of Truth" was difficult. The first one, in the 1970s, wasn't finished at all. The second, by Mikhail Ptashuk, was released a quarter of a century ago and became a national hit, but Bogomolov actively disliked it. The series "Operation Neman" in 2023, based on the novel, he already, of course, could not appreciate.

An aesthetic novel with a complex, even avant-garde composition, to tell the truth, is not very translatable into the language of cinema. In it, dry reports and lively sketches from the life of the country in 1944 collide. It intertwines the opposite optics of the characters, and it's not at all a story about how brave scouts are fighting saboteurs. The epic scope of the novel, despite the locality of its plot, suggests that this is a slice of a national catastrophe in which there are no people left who are not crippled. We see those who are trying to survive, and those who have decided to take revenge. Those who have decided to choose a side and serve it, and those who would rather die than subordinate personal ideals to public ones.

Therefore, no matter how attractive the plot of the novel is, it will remain a work for an experienced reader who is not afraid of complex texts and knows how to work with them. And this reader is unlikely to accept "August": the series is criticized for the fact that its trump card was not the layering and ambivalence that distinguish Bogomolov's work, but the entertainment, which was not intentionally intended in the novel. But it was she, as well as Sergei Bezrukov's participation in the role of Alyokhin, who made August the main release not only in September, but also, possibly, the entire autumn at the Russian box office. His total fees exceeded half a billion rubles, of which the film earned 192 million this weekend.

Luc Besson's horror comedy "Dracula" came in second place. The ancient vampire is also doing great, its total box office has exceeded 600 million rubles since its release. But this week he collected almost two times less than "August", 107 million rubles. But he has much higher average fees per session: 12.6 thousand rubles against 8.5 thousand for "August". Read the interview of the lead actor, Caleb Landry Jones, to Izvestia on our website.

"Among the new films of the weekend, there were no films comparable in scale to August and Dracula," says Olga Zinyakova, president of the KARO cinema chain. — Both projects have a good sundress, and the film with Bezrukov, Kologrivy and Tabakov was marked by a wide campaign on TV and in digital, which continues to bear fruit. Besson's painting is going viral on the Internet and is attracting a new audience who are following a large-scale costume drama about one of the most famous film characters.

The Wanta Group research company told Izvestia that August demonstrates the phenomenon of a powerful and emotional start. The results of the second weekend show a strong audience reaction: the average score is 8.8. Almost half of the audience (49%) said that the film was better than they expected. The picture resonated most strongly in the audience of 35+ and among family viewers. Plot, subject matter, and characters were more often cited as the reason for choosing (21%). In addition, the recommendation of friends or relatives was important (15%), the trailer and advertising played a significant role (26%).

New items are coming behind

The most successful recent release was the sci-fi comedy "(Not)Artificial Intelligence" starring Leon Kemstach. She's in third place at the Russian box office, but she's too far behind the leaders. If they have a cash register for 100 million, then the story of how a young man got stuck inside a robot collected only 38 million rubles.

—(Not)Artificial Intelligence is Alexey Chadov's second directorial project,— Olga Zinyakova comments on the result. — The film tried to inherit the legendary "Robocop", but the project with Leon Kemstach in the title role could not reach the cult film. However, the third place in the top is a good result, the proven holders prevented the project from competing for a large cash register.

One of these holdovers is the horror "The Long Walk", which is already in its third week at the box office. Despite this, he earned 34 million rubles and finished in fourth place, and his average time per session is twice as much as that of Chadov's film — and than that of "My Grandfather's Men's Rules," a fresh comedy starring Roman Madyanov. Her session earned less than 3.4 thousand rubles, which is the lowest figure in the top five. As a result, 27 million rubles per weekend, although there were twice as many sessions as the "Walk".

On the other hand, no one is immune from failures. For example, the apocalyptic action game with Olga Kurylenko "The World on Fire" collected less than 22 million rubles in the opening weekend, and there are not many films of this level in Russia.

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— Since the departure of Hollywood, the viewer has become accustomed to the changed realities and is more willing to look towards Russian releases, often preferring such films as "August". But the fantastic action movie "The World is on Fire" with Dave Batista and Olga Kurylenko also found its audience. It is important that the distribution does not depend on a single major release generating the bulk of the box office, but that it is supported by alternative projects — only such synergy will ensure an optimal, stable influx of viewers to cinemas," notes Olga Zinyakova.

Next weekend, we are waiting for the sports drama "The First on Olympus" with Gleb Kalyuzhny and the comedy "You Drive me crazy" with Mila Ershova. They are highly likely to take the first places in the top of the Russian box office.