MOSCOW. (Russian Film Business Today) – The Very Best Film, a parody of modern Russian cinema created through the efforts of the cast members of the highly popular Comedy Club and Nasha Russia TV programs, triumphantly burst on the scene. Kirill Kuzin’s $6.5 million film stars Garik “Bulldog” Kharlamov, Mikhail Galustin and Pavel “Snezok” Volya and was issued on 702 screens, which is a record for its distributor Caroprokat. It had the best weekend launch ever in the history of CIS box office, having grossed $16,484,460 in four days. In addition, the film became CAROPROKAT highest grossing film ever and set a record for the most money per print in a single weekend: $23,482. This means that occupancy at each showing of the film was more than 75%.

The previous record for the highest grossing weekend was held by Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (BVSPR), which grossed $13,956,706 off 703 screens in May 2007. Clearly, The Very Best Film was head and shoulders above competing films. The next two slots were also taken up by debut films. In second place was Cloverfield (UPI), starring Mike Vogel and Jessica Lucas, which earned $1,854,387 off 394 screens in four days and $3,738 465 in seven days, having been released on a Monday. Sylvester Stallone’s Rambo (Paradise) was in third place. This is the fourth film in the chronicles of John Rambo after a 19-year gap. The first three were Ted Kotcheff’s First Blood (1982), George Pan Cosmatos’s Rambo, First Blood Part II (1985) and Peter MacDonald’s Rambo III (1988). This latest sequel, directed by Stallone himself, grossed $1,582,891 from 417 screens in four days. Accordingly Rambo outgunned Rocky Balboa (20^th Century Fox CIS), Stallone’s previous film, which grossed $1.16 million in 2007.

There was another premiere the same weekend – Wes Anderson’s adventure comedy The Darjeeling Limited (20^th Century Fox CIS) with Owen Wilson, Adrian Brody and Jason Schwartzman debuted at number nine and grossed $84,888 from 25 screens. It should also be noted that the animated comedy Meet the Robinsons (17 screens) was reissued in digital format by BVSPR.

After its fourth week at the top, Timur Bekmambetov’s Irony of Fate: The Sequel (20^th Century Fox CIS) grossed $864,405 (a drop of 59%) from 380 screens in its sixth weekend, for a total of $49,042,039 in 39 days.

Another release from the same distributor fell from second place to fifth place – Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem, which earned $353,245 from 258 screens (a drop of 77%). It has grossed a total of $7,072,956 in 18 days.

In addition to The Very Best Film, Cloverfield, and Rambo, two other films passed the $1 million mark – Awake (West) and His Majesty Minor (Central Partnership). After 18 days in release, they grossed $1,075,707 and $1,027,278 respectively. Accordingly, 22 films are already in the “millionaire’s club” this year.

Total CIS Box Office from January 24–27 reached a record high of $22,233,596, which is almost three times more (217.4%, to be exact) as compared with box office figures the previous week. The previous highest grossing weekend was January 3–6, when receipts were more than $20 million for the first time – $21,769,191. Again, this was the third week that Irony of Fate: The Sequel was on top.