Zoomers through the Looking Glass: the horror of a 20-year—old director is among the leaders of the film distribution

For the second weekend in a row, cinema attendance has remained at the same level. 1.5 million viewers came to watch the new rental. Among the leaders is the American biopic "Michael", which has been in the first position for two weeks, which earned almost 250 million rubles this weekend, and the new horror film "Behind the Scenes of Reality" collected almost 176 million rubles in the first weekend of rental, taking the deserved second place. Guy Ritchie's action movie Dirty Money is in third place, with a box office of 47.2 million rubles. Also in the lead are the family comedy "Denis and Mani in the cinema!" from NMG Film Distribution and the American horror film "Obsession". Izvestia evaluated the preliminary results of the domestic box office over the past weekend.

The Steadfast "Michael"

The leadership is still held by the biographical film "Michael", dedicated to the life and work of one of the most significant figures of the 20th century, pop king Michael Jackson, who forever changed the music industry. According to the EAIS (Unified Federal Automatic Information System for information about film screenings in cinemas. – Ed.), the painting collected 249 million rubles, about 72 million rubles less than last weekend. On the contrary, the average number of viewers per session has increased: if there were 20 people last weekend, then 22 this weekend.

The showrunner of the project was Graham King, known for the successful production of Bohemian Rhapsody, dedicated to the life of Freddie Mercury.

Of the novelties, the most viewed was the sci-fi horror film "Behind the Scenes of Reality" from the 20-year-old director of the American studio A24, Kane Parsons. According to the EAIS, the horror earned 175.8 million rubles over the weekend. The film became a record holder in terms of the number of viewers per session: on average, there were 24 people at each screening.

The film tells the story of Clark, the owner of a furniture store, who accidentally stumbles upon an alternate world called Backstage. The space is an endless corridor of rooms with yellow walls. The hero is obsessed with the idea of figuring out what is happening in this place, and draws other people into this adventure.

Olga Zinyakova, President of the KARO cinema chain, told Izvestia that the success of the project lies in its originality and unorthodox approach.

— "Behind the Scenes of Reality" is embedded in a new wave of horror films, which rethinks the approach to the genre, finds new tools for interacting with the viewer and finds the trigger points of the zoom generation. Like in "The Collector of Souls" and the film "One Whole," horror is not an end in itself, but only a form through which directors raise current issues. Studio A24 sensitively reads the feelings of its audience and offers releases that, if they do not help to cope with anxiety from what is happening in the world, at least recognize the existence of these problems, which is sometimes lacking for modern viewers," the expert said.

From the Internet to the cinema

The family comedy "Denis and Mani in the cinema!", released in Russia on June 4, became the second among the new films of the past weekend, and took the fourth place among all the leaders. The box office of the film amounted to 37.5 million rubles.

The main characters of the film are the Labrador Denis and the sphinx Mani, a duo popular in the Russian—speaking Internet space, which has been collecting millions of views online for five years. In addition, Olympic champion Evgenia Medvedeva, comedian Dmitry Khrustalev and actor Artem Tkachenko appeared as cameos in the film.

— The picture attracted fans of Denis the Labrador and Mani the Sphinx to the cinema, who follow the couple's life on social networks, where this non-trivial duo is very popular. Thanks to the 6+ rating, families with children also went to cinemas. The comedy "Denis and Mani in the cinema!" worked within the expectation," Olga Zinyakova noted.

However, according to the expert, the film should not expect a significant increase in fees next weekend — "Serf 3" and two competitors in terms of subject matter and rating are released: "Animal Hallucination" and "School of Magical Beasts. The Keepers of the miracle."