01/12/2015 - Unexpectedly, Leonel Vieira’s The Courtyard of the Ballads has become the most-seen European and Portuguese film of 2015

With 2015 about to come to a close, it is time to look back and evaluate the performance of European and local films at Portugal’s box office during the first 11 months of the year.

The top ten of the most-seen films is, as usual, dominated by US productions, with the computer-animated comedy Minions reaching the top position, having grossed €4,726,210. The second spot belongs to action film Furious 7 (€4,422,750.74).

The most-seen European film of the year is also the most-seen Portuguese movie of all time: Leonel Vieira’s The Courtyard of the Ballads [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] reached the third position in the overall top ten, with €3,094,417.97 grossed. A typical example of a film savaged by the critics but which then turned into a crowd-pleaser, The Courtyard of the Ballads is the first instalment in a series of remakes of titles from the so-called Golden Age of Portuguese cinema (1940s comedies). The second instalment, O Leão da Estrela [+see also:
trailer
film profile], opened last week, but no box-office results have been unveiled so far.

The chart continues with other American productions, with the US-UK co-production Spectre [+see also:
trailer
making of
film profile] by Sam Mendes standing out in seventh position (347,763 admissions and €1,920,949.83 grossed). All of these titles were distributed by NOS Lusomundo Audiovisuais, which is currently dominating the entire top-ten chart.

Much further down the list, in 22^nd position, we find another British-US title, Morten Tyldum’s The Imitation Game [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
film profile], which has grossed €665,570.34 so far.

As for the top ten of the most popular local titles, the list is obviously headed by The Courtyard of the Ballads (605,000 admissions). Overall, this chart is more disappointing than last year’s, when two local titles released in the last quarter of the year (The Maias – Story of a Portuguese Family [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] and Os Gatos Nao Têm Vertigens [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile]) exceeded the 90,000-admissions mark. A similar occurrence was not to be this year.

João Leitão’s superhero satire Capitão Falcão [+see also:
trailer
film profile] holds the second spot in the ranking, but it did not exceed 27,309 admissions (€129,685.02 grossed). While these figures are actually fairly exciting for a feature debut and an alternative project such as this, the numbers recorded by Miguel Gomes’ Arabian Nights [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Miguel Gomes
film profile] are, on the other hand, rather unsatisfactory when compared to the expectations the film had spent months building up. Altogether, the three instalments in this ambitious mix of documentary and fictional satire, set against the backdrop of Portuguese society during the years of austerity, have not as yet exceeded 32,500 admissions (€159,805).

Both The Courtyard of the Ballads and Capitão Falcão were distributed by NOS Lusomundo Audiovisuais, while Arabian Nights was released by its production outfit, O Som e a Fúria.

Only one more Portuguese movie is scheduled for theatrical distribution before the end of the year: António-Pedro Vasconcelos’ Amor Impossível. Since the release date is 24 December, its impact on the local box office is not expected to be felt before 2016.