Knows how to spin: movie tickets set a new price record

The weekend from December 4-7 became a landmark for Russia: the average price of a movie ticket was higher than ever before, including the New Year holidays. According to the EAIS, it amounted to 481.9 rubles. At the top of the Russian box office were the new comedy with Evgeny Tkachuk "Volchok", the adventurous action game "Illusion of Deception 3" and the full-length anime franchise "Chainsaw Man". Together, these three films earned more than two-thirds of the weekend's total national box office. But they didn't have the highest attendance and the most expensive tickets. Izvestia analyzes the figures of the Russian box office.

The most expensive movie ticket

Movie ticket prices are rising at a decidedly slower rate than general inflation, and cinema remains the most affordable form of leisure. Even the fact that the average ticket now costs 481.9 rubles won't scare many people, and in large cities it's rare to go to the cinema at this price, usually it's a bit more expensive. And yet, considering that the New Year holidays are ahead, when big blockbusters will be released, first of all "Pinocchio", the increase in the average ticket price now, in December, when even "Avatar 3" has not yet been released, may be alarming.

"The increase in ticket prices is an expected reaction to the general increase in prices," Olga Zinyakova, president of the KARO cinema chain, explains to Izvestia. — Including the fact that the ticket price for pirated content is on average 20% higher. At the same time, there are so many special offers and discounts in our network that everyone can find a comfortable option for themselves.

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"The Spinning Top" and "The Chainsaw Man" are the highest—grossing novelties

The highest-grossing film of the weekend was the comedy "The Spinning Top", which, of course, has nothing to do with the cult art drama by Vasily Sigarev, but it will give cinephiles a lot to joke about. On the other hand, the film itself was also shot by cinephile Konstantin Smirnov, who came from comedy series to feature films and now, apparently, will stay here for a long time. The influential distributor Central Partnership painted the Spinning Top so that it had 30% of all sessions in the country, and the calculation turned out to be correct. 155 million rubles — and a very positive press, which is a rarity for Russian cinema.

— Against the background of many remakes and fabulous projects, the original family film "Volchok" looks fresh, — Olga Zinyakova explains the success of the film. — At the same time, the film combines several genres at once: road movie, buddy movie and historical cinema. Konstantin Smirnov, the director of The Spinning Top, manages to create "folk" projects — let's recall the widely loved TV series "Beetles". The talent of the director, along with the bright faces in the cast (Evgeny Tkachuk, Andrey Smolyakov, Daniil Vorobyov), allowed the project to take the first place in the top.

The second place and 125 million rubles went to the film "The Illusion of Deception 3". By the way, his operating time is almost twice as high as that of the "Top": people keep going and going. This film is currently in fifth place at the annual box office, and by next Monday it should reach the third place, so only "The Wizard of Oz" and "Finist" will remain ahead. Now his total cash is already above 1.5 billion.

But the third place is a surprise, perhaps, for many. He was taken over by the anime "Chainsaw Man. The film: The Story of Reza." The box office was 101 million rubles, and on Thursday, the day of the release, the picture generally had the first place among all. Thus, this is already the highest—grossing anime of the year, the closest rival is Dandadan: Evil Eye, 48 million rubles. The total box office of the anime, including previews, has already amounted to 125 million rubles, and this is almost the entire box office of "The Demon Slayer", one of the most successful anime of the decade.

"The Chainsaw Man is a legendary anime based on the manga of the same name by Tatsuki Fujimoto," says Olga Zinyakova. — The first season of this Japanese animation made a splash: those who usually don't pay attention to such content have also heard about it. The full-length film "Chainsaw Man" is an atypical romcom in the usual anime aesthetic for fans. The 18+ rated release has brought a sizeable fan base and audience to cinemas who are looking for non-mainstream content on big screens.

"Letter to Santa Claus" (23 million rubles) and "The Crazy Empress" (20 million rubles) are in fourth and fifth places at the Russian box office, lagging far behind the leaders.