The animated comedy Kung Fu Panda (UPI) started in CIS cinemas no less triumphantly than overseas (incidentally, it came out in the CIS a day earlier than in the U.S.). In four days (June, 5-8) this film grossed $8,259,246 from 821 screens, easily taking the top spot in the box office chart and the best earnings per screen with $10,060.

The victor of the last two weeks, Steve Spielberg’s actioner Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull (also UPI), accordingly fell to second place, grossing $924,283 (a 75% from its second weekend) off 651 screens, for an 18-day total of $16,055,024. It should be noted that no other film besides Kung Fu Panda was able to gross more than $1 million, which is testament to the pre-eminence of this animated film in theaters. After its second weekend, the Wachowski brother’s racing actioner Speed Racer (Caro Premier), broke the $1 million barrier, but fell from third place to fourth. It grossed $225,162 (a 76% drop) from 436 screens for a gross of $1,529,652 in 11 days.

Kung Fu Panda and Speed Racer subsequently joined the “millionaire’s club,” bringing the number of films that earned more than $1 million up to 79.

In third place, My Mom's New Boyfriend (Paradise), the German-American co-produced comedy from director George Gallo and starring Antonio Banderas, Meg Ryan and Colin Hanks, grossed $850,411 from 236 screens. The horror film sequel Boogeyman 2 (Pyramida), which stars Tobin Bell and Danielle Savre and went straight to video in North America, placed fifth in cinemas here, grossing $203,455 from 100 screens. In eighth place was  yet another American horror film, Pathology (West), starring Milo Ventimiglia and Alyssa Milano (59 screens, $126,149). And finally, starting out in 19^th place was the 2006 musical Once (West), which earned an Oscar for Best Song. The composers are the lead actors in the film – Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová. The film, which was directed by John Carney grossed $6,796 from only one screen, giving it the second-best earnings per screen.

Alexander Rogozhkin’s $2 million soccer comedy The Game (Nashe Kino), starring Daniil Strakhov, tells the story of Russian team winning the World Cup (still hypothetical, of course). The film started a week ago and managed to score $303,982 in 11 days. It is currently in 11^th place.

Total CIS box office for the first full summer weekend (June 5-8) increased by 57.9% compared to the previous week’s figure and reached $11,397,013.