Admiral (20th Century Fox CIS), Andrei Kravchuk’s historical bioðic of Admiral Alexander Kolchak, continues to dominate CIS box office. The film, starring Konstantin Khabensky as Kolchak, grossed $7,911,866 from 1,107 screens in its second weekend (only 28% less than in its first), for a total of $23,371,438 in 11 days. New films occupied the second through fourth slots in the chart. In second place was the animated film Open Season 2 (BVSPR), the sequel to the hit Open Season, which in 2006 brought its distributor Cascade $6.61 million. The sequel, which will be released straight to video in North America in January 2009, had a good start in the CIS – incidentally, its world premiere – grossing $2,835,600 in its first four days from 360 screens.

The Open Season sequel’s per-screen average was $7,877 – the best of any film of the week. By comparison, Admiral’s per-screen average was $7,147. Third place went to the British comedy How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (Luxor) starring Simon Pegg and Kirsten Dunst. Showing on 330 screens, the film put $1,410,524 onto its account. Having cleared the $1 million hurdle, this film and Open Season 2 joined the “millionaire’s club” of the current CIS box office year. The list of films that made more than $1 million is now up to 122 titles. In fourth place was the $3.4 million Russian animated film The Adventures of Alyonushka and Yeryoma [Priklyucheniya Alyonushki i Yeryomy] (Paradise), which grossed $725 936 from 206 screens. It is essential to note that the current screenings of Adventures are considered to be pre-premiere, and the film will be given a wider release next week.

Another film to make it into the top ten, this one in sixth place, was the U.S.-Australian drama Nights in Rodanthe (Caro Premier), adapted from a novel by Nicholas Sparks starring Richard Gere and Diane Lane. The film grossed $369 785 from 204 screens. There were three new films outside of the Top 10; of these, two were domestic – Sergei Mokritsky’s $2 million melodrama Four Ages of Love [Chetire vozrasta lyubvi] (RUSCICO/Noviye Lyudi), with Lia Akhedzhakova, Igor Yasulovich, Yulia Rutberg and Alexei Serebryakov, was in 15th place (14 screens, $20,809) and Pyotr Todorovsky’s $1.8 million war drama Riorita (Mirabel/Paradise), with Konstantin Vorobyov and Alexei Gorbunov, was in 36th ($1,380 from one screen).

Mad Detective (Cinema Without Frontiers), the Hong Kong actioner from directors Johnny To and Kai-Fai Wai starring Ching Wan Lau had to make do with 22nd place (three screens, $7,213). Jon Avnet’s detective thriller and DeNiro-Pacino vehicle Righteous Kill, having grossed $3,489,201 in 32 days, became Top Film’s highest grossing film ever. Total CIS box office from October 16–19 was $14,935,735, which was 1.4% less than the previous weekend’s figure.