04/07/2006

It comes as no surprise that of the 191 Spanish productions that screened in local theatres in the first five months of 2006, Cannes winner Volver [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Agustín Almodóvar
interview: Carmen Maura
interview: Pedro Almodóvar
interview: Pénélope Cruz
film profile] (see focus) was the most successful.

According to ICAA data, Pedro Almodóvar's bittersweet return to the female world, released on March 17, was seen by 1,676,657 moviegoers and grossed over €8.9m.

The film not only leads the box office among domestic titles but also comes in fourth in terms of overall box office, immediately after US titles Ice Age 2, The Da Vinci Code and Memoirs of a Geisha.

Consequently Almodóvar's El Deseo also leads production companies in highest box office results, thanks not only to Volver but also Isabel Coixet's acclaimed The Secret Life of Words [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Isabel Coixet
film profile] (see focus), which grossed €797,904.

Volver's outstanding results in ten weeks of release represent approximately twice the proceeds grossed by Emilio Martínez Lázaro's The 2 Sides of the Bed [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Álvaro Curiel
interview: Emilio Martínez Lázaro
film profile] (see focus). Distributed over the Christmas holidays, this musical comedy pulled in 848,444 admissions, and grossed over €4.4m.

Vicente Aranda's 15th century drama Tirante El Blanco, a Carolina Films production that DeAPlaneta released on April 7, comes in third (273,073 admissions and over €1.4m grossed), while David Trueba's Malaga title Bienvenido a casa (see news) attracted 226,325 admissions (and grossed over €1.2m).

The top five Spanish films close off with Miguel Alvadalejo's My Quick Way Out, currently being presented in Official Competition at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival (see news). Released last November, the film garnered 228,141 admissions and grossed €1,168,024.

Altogether, the 191 aforementioned domestic films grossed over €25m, the equivalent to a market share of 10.04%. The market share of all 525 EU films (Spain included) went up to 22.76% (€58,243,035), but these results are shadowed by those achieved by the 366 US titles, which control 75.77% of the market (€193,868,651).