04/08/2015 - Leonel Vieira’s comedy is to date the most popular Portuguese film of the year

Leonel Vieira’s Portuguese comedy The Courtyard of the Ballads [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (see article), which was released last Thursday (30 July),  has so far been seen by more than 80,000 viewers, making it the most popular Portuguese film of the year, stealing the crown from another comedy: Capitão Falcão [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Joao Leitão.

The Courtyard of the Ballads, the first film in a trilogy that has been dubbed "The new classics", also shot to second place in the box office charts this weekend behind the American film Minions, which has seen almost 138,000 admissions.

The success of Vieira’s film is not entirely unexpected, it just wasn’t expected to do this well, with the potential to be a film phenomenon. Indeed, the film has benefited from an aggressive marketing campaign, being the first remake in the history of Portuguese cinema (and above all, a national classic which is well-known all over Portugal) and from the prestige of its cast, which includes a number of famous television actors.

The remaining two films in the “New classics” trilogy, O Leão da Estrela [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and A Canção de Lisboa, will be hitting Portuguese screens at Christmas and next year respectively.

(Translated from Spanish)