The most highly-anticiðated Russian blockbuster of recent times, Admiral (20^th Century Fox CIS), has been released to CIS screens. The film is a historical bioðic that stars Konstantin Khabensky as Admiral Alexander Vasilievich Kolchak – renowned Russian polar explorer, military commander and one of the leaders of the White Movement during the Russian Civil War. Andrei Kravchuk’s $20 million epic, which also stars Elizaveta Boyarskaya and Sergei Bezrukov, was released to a record 1,107 screens in the CIS. In the four days of its opening weekend, it grossed $10,959,458, for a total of $11,696,195 in six days – it was released on a Tuesday. Admiral had the second-best opening weekend ever in CIS box office history – it was second fiddle only to The Very Best Film (Caroprokat), which grossed $16,484,460 from 702 screens in its first four days.

Kravchuk’s film was at an overwhelming advantage in distribution. Obviously, it topped the box office chart, and it also led in terms of per-screen average ($9 900). Grosses were ten times less than the second film in the chart, the Coen brothers’ new black comedy Burn After Reading (CP Classic), which stars George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Frances McDormand. Nevertheless, the film moved up the chart. It went from third place to second, grossing $1,041,682 from 252 screens (39% less, than in its starting weekend), for an 11-day total of $3,272,092. Last week’s leader, the actioner Eagle Eye (UPI), starring Shia LaBeouf and Michelle Monaghan, fell down to third. It grossed $1,012,681 from 438 screens in its second weekend (a 51% drop) for a total of $3,721,583 in 11 days.

The musical Mamma Mia! (UPI) also fell two notches – from second to fourth. It put $591,563 into its piggybank from 275 screens (a 70% drop), for an 18-day total of $8,525,014. In fifth and sixth place were films that had crossed the $1 million mark in the week under review. The House Bunny (BVSPR) with Anna Faris charmed viewers out of $436,835 on 162 screens (only a 25% drop) and the computer-animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars (Caro Premier) which posted $419,666 to its account from 291 screens in its second weekend (also a fairly small drop – $20%). After 11 days, these films grossed $1,238,930 and $1,090,917 respectively.

Consequently, the “millionaire’s club” gained three more members (including Admiral) and is now 120 titles strong.

In addition to the Russian blockbuster, there were three more new films, but all of them were outside the top ten. Out of these, Tony Giglio’s backwoods horror movie Timber Falls (Lizard) with Josh Randall and Brianna Brown, performed the best. Its take was $42,098 from 31 screens. The French suspense thriller What My Eyes Have Seen (Intercinema), starring Sylvie Testud and Jean-Pierre Marielle, nailed 20^th place (three screens, $5,889). Korean director Chang-dong Lee’s melodrama Secret Sunshine (Cinema Without Frontiers), for which its star, Do-yeon Jeon, won the Best Actress award at the 2007 Cannes Festival, had to make do with 34^th place (four screens, $2 500).

Total CIS box office from October 9 through October 12 was $15,141,810, which soared 66.5% over last week’s figure.