21/09/2005

Bohdan Sláma’s new film Something Like Happiness (“Stesti” – see our News) is arguably far from being a feel-good story. That does not seem to bother Czech cinemagoers who rushed to the theatres nationwide,e offering the film a dream entry into the Czech box-office. Something Like Happiness has taken almost 2.5 million Czech crowns (€ 88,000) during its opening weekend, a relatively high performance by Czech standards.

The more than 25,000 tickets it has sold since its release less than a week ago means that the film comfortably leads the Czech box-office on a per-week basis, taking over from the US film Mr and Mrs Smith which has fallen to second place.
Timur Bekmabhetov’s Russian hit Night Watch (“Nochnoj dozor”) and Peter Naess’ Norwegian/Swedish feature Just Bea (“Bare bea”) are the only European films in the Czech top-10, dominated by US productions. Surprisingly, Filip Renc’s From Subway With Love (“Roman pro zeny”), a romantic comedy of a young woman, and her widowed mother tirelessly seeking Mr. Right, continues to do well in the Czech box-office, holding on to a respectable 12th place, almost six months after its release. From Subway With Love , which has already been watched by 451,000 people, is the only other Czech film in the top-20.

Something Like Happiness is produced by Negativ and Czech TV (the public broadcaster) in association with the German company Pallas Film GmbH; it is financed by Eurimages, the Czech Film Support Fund and the German fund MDM. World sales are handled by French company Wild Bunch.