Spanish Affair Still - H 2014
Pedro AlborenozMADRID – Emilio Martinez Lazaro’s Spanish Affair continued to break Spanish box office records, increasing sales a groundbreaking 24 percent from its second to its third week and 95 percent from its release on March 14.
The comedy’s success has earned it €16.5 million ($22.7 million) to date with 2.6 million tickets sold and €5.2 million ($7.1 million) sold from its third weekend.
Juan Antonio Bayona’s 2012 The Impossible, the last Spanish film to break domestic box office records upon its premiere, saw its box-office take drop 19 percent from the second to the third week.
STORY: ‘Spanish Affair’ Woos Audiences
Affair cornered 49 percent of the weekend’s revenue, more than doubling the performance of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, which earned €2 million ($2.7 million), and landing for its third consecutive week in the worldwide top 15 box-office earnings.
The romantic comedy, distributed in Spain by Universal Pictures International, was written by Borja Cobeaga and Diego San Jose and stars Clara Lago, Dani Rovira, Carmen Machi and Karra Elejalde. LaZona Films co-produced the film with Kowalski Films and Snow Films for Telecinco Cinema, with collaboration from regional broadcaster ETB and pay platform channel Canal Plus.
The film is only gathering steam and should further benefit from Spain’s Fiesta del Cine initiative that runs March 31-April 2. The Fiesta offers deep discounts (€2.90 per ticket; about $4) to moviegoers in an effort to bring people back to the theaters.
As luck would have it, the rainy weather on Monday appeared it would help. More than 2 million people had registered for the three-day event that includes more than 95 percent of Spanish theaters.
