VIY 3D

Variety

Leo Barraclough

LONDON — Russian cinema has a new box office champion: Jason Flemyng starrer “Viy 3D” has grossed more than Rubles 1 billion ($28.4 million) after two weeks, with a further Rubles 165 million ($4.7 million) taken in neighboring Ukraine.

The fantasy action pic, which is directed by Oleg Stepchenko, and produced by Alexey A. Petrukhin and Alexander Culicov, is based on the short story of the same name by Russian writer Nikolai Gogol. Event Film is handling international sales.

It tells the story of English cartographer Jonathan Green (Flemyng), who sets out on a journey to map the uncharted lands of Transylvania, only to discover dark secrets and dangerous creatures hidden in the forest.

In its second weekend, the film took Rubles 238 million ($6.78 million), which was the best weekend B.O. perf in Russia. In Ukraine, its box office was a stellar Rubles 113 million ($3.22 million). Pic is being released by Universal.

In its first weekend in Russia, it grossed of Rubles 605.2 million ($17.2 million) from 1,025 theaters, which was the best opening for a Russian film ever, and 15% ahead of previous local champion “Stalingrad.”

It was the fourth biggest opening of all time, after “Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides” (Rubles 880 million/$25.5 million), “Iron Man 3” (Rubles 722 million/$20.6 million) and “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn — Part 1” (Rubles 697 million/$19.8 million).

In Ukraine it took Rubles 54.4 million ($1.55 million), which compares favorably with “Stalingrad’s” Rubles 42 million ($1.2 million).

IMDB

arly 18th century. Cartographer Jonathan Green undertakes a scientific voyage from Europe to the East. Having passed through Transylvania and crossed the Carpathian Mountains, he finds himself in a small village lost in impassible woods. Nothing but chance and heavy fog could bring him to this cursed place. People who live here do not resemble any other people which the traveler saw before that. The villagers, having dug a deep moat to fend themselves from the rest of the world, share a naive belief that they could save themselves from evil, failing to understand that evil has made its nest in their souls and is waiting for an opportunity to gush out upon the world.

- Written by RFG

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