Moscow (Russian Film Business Today) — In the period from November 30, 2006 to November 28, 2007 (i.e., the entire 2007 box-office year), box office receipts in the CIS totaled $565 mln. This is 37.1% more than the indicator for the 2006 box office year, when receipts totaled $412 mln. In the last box office year, CIS citizens (excluding Ukraine) bought 106,603,774 admissions, which is 16.4% more than in the 2006 box office year (91,556,847 admissions). For the first time in the history of film distribution in the CIS, more than 100 million admissions were sold.

In the 2007 box office year, 350 films were released, of which 115 were in limited release (no more than 25 prints). For the first time in CIS film distribution history, the number of films in limited release broke 100. One hundred and nine films grossed more than $1 mln each, which is also a record for CIS box office. In the 2006 box office year, there were only 90 such films. Drama 20 Cigarettes/ Dvatsat' Sigaret (Paradise) was just $7000 shy of earning $1 mln in theaters. Thirteen blockbusters brought distributors more than $10 mln and in 2006, there were only five such films.

Fourteen distributors grossed more than $1 mln in 2007 each, while in 2006 there were only 12. Eleven distributors earned more than $10 mln each, while in 2006 there were seven. Five distributors earned more than $50 million apiece, and there were only three such companies in 2006. The 14 leading distributors earned a total of $562.4 mln in 2007 (99.6%), while other distributors put only $2.6 mln (0.4%) in their piggybanks. In 2006, the ratio was the following:  $408.7 mln (99.1%) and 3.3 mln (0.9%).
The top distributor was UPI (16.9%) — the former UIP and East-West, which grossed $95.95 mln in the 2007 box office year. This is 77.4% more than it had in 2006 ($54.08 mln and third place in the chart). UPI's highest-grossing film was Shrek the Third, with $23.39 mln. It was the highest-grossing film in this distributor's history and the highest-grossing animated film ever in CIS distribution.

The Caro Premier / Caroprokat alliance was in second place (16.4%) in 2007 with a gross of $92.54 mln. The highest grosser for this distributor in 2007 and in its entire history was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix with $16.33 mln.
Rounding out the top three and first among independent distributors was Central Partnership / CP Classics (15.1%), which grossed $85.09 mln. This is 154.5% more than this distributor grossed in 2006 ($33.44 mln and fourth place in the chart). Its highest-grossing film in 2007 as well as highest-grossing film ever for this company was the Slavic sword-and-sorcery yarn The Wolfhound, which grossed $20.02 mln with a budget of $12 mln.
Fourth place (14.9%) was taken up by the new company BVSPR with a result of $83.93 mln. Its highest-grossing film was also the highest-grossing foreign film ever in CIS distribution — Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, with $30.85 million.
Next came 20th Century Fox CIS / Gemini (14.1%), which grossed $79.74 mln. This is 24.8% less than this distributor had in 2006, when it topped the chart with $106.09 mln. Its highest grosser in 2007 was the Russian youth drama Heat (Zhara), which grossed $15.71 mln with a budget of $1.7 mln.

This top five of distributor heavyweights grossed more than $75 mln each.
Second among independent distributors and sixth in the general chart was Paradise (5.9%), with $33.30 mln. This is 41.4% more than this distributor had in 2006 ($23.55 million and seventh place). Paradise's highest-grossing release and its highest-grossing foreign film ever was Resident Evil: Extinction, with $8.19 mln.
West was seventh in the general chart (4.2%) and third among independent distributors with $23.99 mln. This is 18.4% more than this company had in 2006 ($20.26 mln and eighth place). Its highest grosser in 2007 was the supernatural thriller 1408, with $3.5 mln.

Next up (3.6%) was Cascade, which grossed $20.33 mln, which was 79% less than the company had in 2006 ($96.74 mln and second place). This distributor's highest grossing film in 2007 was the $10 mln historical drama The Sovereign's Servant (Sluga Gosudarev), which grossed only $5.34 mln.
Nashe Kino took ninth place (2.7%) with $15.03 mln. Its highest grossing film was Sergei Bodrov's $20 mln historical epic Mongol, which grossed $6.5 mln.
Rounding out the top ten distributors was Lizard (2.0%), which grossed $11.14 mln in 2007. This is a whopping 249.2% more than this distributor earned in 2006 ($3.19 mln and eleventh place that year). Its highest grossing film in 2007 and highest grossing film ever was The Power of Fear (Ved'ma), which grossed $4.89 mln, with a production budget of $3.5 mln.

Pyramid came next (1.9%) with $10.61 mln and then Luxor (1.3%) with 7.49 mln, the biggest hits of which were the horror flick 30 Days of Night ($2.14 mln) and the French youth comedy Hellphone ($1.81 mln) respectively.
The total gross of the 85 Russian films (including coproductions) released in 2007 was $148.5 mln (26.3% of total CIS box office in 2007), which is 27.3% more than in 2006 ($108 mln). However, if in 2006 each Russian film grossed an average of $1,830,509, then in 2007 this figure was down to $1,747,069.
The leader in limited release in 2007 was Paris, je t'aime, which grossed a phenomenal $1.05 mln from only ten prints, i.e. $105 000 per print!