Romania’s box office: the ten highest-grossing local movies this year

Newsroom 23/12/2014 | 16:00

From Hollywood style comedies to black-and-white dissections of Communism, the 14 Romanian productions and co-productions that made it to the national silver screen this year were a mixed bag. But which got the most bums on seats? BR brings you the lowdown on the ten highest-grossing Romanian films this year.

By Oana Vasiliu

#Selfie

Premiered: 09.05.2014

Weeks on screen: 24

Viewers: 101.726

Box office: 1.145.987,00 RON

Director: Cristina Iacob

Starring: Olimpia Melinte, Vlad Logigan, Levent Sali, Flavia Hojda, Crina Semciuc, Alexandru Calin

Synopsis: Instead of staying home and revising for their finals, three students – Roxi, Ana and Yasmine – head to the seaside for one last reckless hurrah before their big exams. They’re looking for love, excitement and adventure – but will the boys they encounter be able to provide it?

Cuscrii / The In-Laws

Premiered: 24.10.2014

Weeks on screen: 6

Viewers: 23.305

Box office: 426.273,00 RON

Director: Radu Potcoava

Starring: Paul Ipate, Ioana Blaj, Mircea Diaconu, Luminita Gheorghiu, Marian Ralea

Synopsis: Romania’s answer to Meet the Parents brings a local twist: a denouement that plays on the 1989 Revolution. Ionut and Mariana are engaged, and bringing their future in-laws together for the first time. As usual, things do not go smoothly. His low-key parents are intimidated by her folks’ greater wealth and ostentatious “McMansion”, his father lays into the brandy and her sisters are seething with their own dysfunction. Then history begins to reveal itself…

Closer to the Moon

Premiered: 07.03.2014

Weeks on screen: 23

Viewers: 20.135

Box office: 368.332,98 RON

Director: Nae Caranfil

Starring: Vera Farmiga, Mark Strong, Tim Plester

Synopsis: The film is the true account of a group of high-ranking Jewish members of the nomenclature, who, in 1959, staged what was to become known as the coup of the century: they robbed Romania’s National Bank, making it look like a film shoot. And this is only the beginning. Once arrested and prosecuted, they were forced to reenact their parts in the heist for a propaganda movie. Despite its tragic aspect, this incredible story, long shrouded in mystery, gets an unexpectedly light treatment.

America, venim / America, Here We Come

Premiered: 19.09.2014

Weeks on screen: 8

Viewers: 28.081

Box office: 327.269,26 RON

Director: Razvan Savescu

Starring: Mihai Calin, Gheorghe Ifrim, Adrian Vancica, Mira Furlan

Synopsis: Five actors, a director and a small child with a huge teddy bear are crossing the ocean from Targoviste to perform in New York.  To make some extra money, the actors decide to start working with a local agent, a Romanian living in the US. The agent promises them a major tour, but nothing goes according to plan…

Kyra Kyralina

Premiered: 05.09.2014

Weeks on screen: 9

Viewers: 6.447

Box office: 64.155,93 RON

Director: Dan Pita

Starring: Iulia Dumitru, Stefan Iancu, Corneliu Ulici, Iulia Cirstea

Synopsis: This baroque production reconstructs the life of a dysfunctional 1920s family, with impressive interiors, costumes (Oana Paunescu) and music (Adrian Enescu). Based loosely on the plot of the homonymous book by Panait Istrati, it is pitched as a set of interlocking narratives concerning a young gay man in the latter years of the Ottoman Empire, a time that was somewhat more liberal sexually. But the movie is really a family story seen through the eyes of the young man, focusing on two female characters. It concentrates on the search for love and happiness in a world of fear, revenge and excess.

Ultimul zburator / The Last Incubus

Premiered: 07.02.2014

Weeks on screen: 9

Viewers: 6.759

Box office: 58.171,00 RON

Director: Ovidiu Georgescu

Starring: Gabriel Dutu, Iulia Verdes

Synopsis: In 2012 the last Incubus, Zanoni, has retreated to an old mansion, taking the form of a mysterious character who invites girls on nocturnal motorcycle rides, offering them moments of passion.

Q.E.D.

Premiered: 10.10.2014

Weeks on screen: 5

Viewers: 4.778

Box office: 34.119,09 RON

Director: Andrei Gruzsniczki

Starring: Ofelia Popii, Sorin Leoveanu, Florin Piersic Jr.

Synopsis: This black-and-white movie focuses on a mathematician’s decision to publish a paper in a magazine edited by an American university without asking permission from the communist authorities. This action triggers a chain of events that will change the lives of his friends.

Bucuresti, unde esti? / Bucharest, Where are You?

Premiered: 13.06.2014

Weeks on screen: 6

Viewers: 3.643

Box office: 11.922,21 RON

Director: Vlad Petri

Synopsis: Over 23 years since the Romanian Revolution, the people were back on the streets of Bucharest, reclaiming the public space and fighting to change the political system. Director Vlad Petri followed their stories for a year, from the first days of the protests to the referendum to remove the president, crafting them into a documentary about the people transforming a revolution into a travesty.

Love bus: cinci povesti de dragoste din Bucuresti / Love bus: Five Love Stories from Bucharest

Premiered: 22.08.2014

Weeks on screen: 8

Viewers: 1.789

Box office: 7.995,69 RON

Directors: Roxana Andrei, Mihai Mincan, Constantin Radu Vasile, Andrei Georgescu, Florin Babei

Starring: Ada Gales, Catalin Jugravu, Andrei Ion

Synopsis: The titles of the five shorts are well-known Bucharest neighborhoods, and each work starts with images from the respective areas of the city.

Scurt / 4: Istorii de inima neagra / Black Heart Tales

Premiered: 28.11.2014

Weeks on screen: 1

Viewers: 1.889

Box office: 6.407,09 RON

Directors: Luiza Parvu, Radu Jude, Andrei Cretulescu, Iulia Rugina

Starring: Ada Gales, Catalin Jugravu, Andrei Ion

Synopsis: Gangsters, drinking, death, power ballads, witchy neighbors, screaming neighbors, neighbors impersonating rabbits, and transatlantic treks – it’s all there in this new batch of Romanian shorts.

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