Spain’s official Oscar submission La Bola Negra has grossed $5.3m (€4.7m) in its opening weekend in Spain, setting records for an independent dr
Spain’s official Oscar submission La Bola Negra has grossed $5.3m (€4.7m) in its opening weekend in Spain, setting records for an independent drama and for a feature released by a local distributor.
Elastica Films reported more than 600,000 tickets sold in three days for the queer epic from Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi (aka Los Javis), overtaking the $2.5m (€2.2m) established by the horror film [REC] 2 released by Filmax in 2009.
La Bola Negra’s opening weekend comes close to J.A. Bayona’s tentpole horror The Orphanage starring Belén Rueda in 2007, which Warner Bros opened to $5.9m (€5.2m). The mighty weekend result also established the second-best opening by any Spanish film this year behind only Sony Pictures’ release of Torrente For President, the latest in Santiago Segura’s comedy franchise that arrived in March on $7.9m (€6.9m).
Enrique Costa, co-founder of Elastica Films and head of the company’s distribution arm, told Screen: “This is a film that gets rid of labels and is able to reach out to a wide audience, not just for young people, not just for a traditional arthouse market. It proves that not only Spanish comedies and action films can be mainstream in Spain. From the minute I read the screenplay I was aware of its potential. La Bola Negra is epic, a unicorn, and it’s a privilege to be able to be part of its journey.”
Anticipation for the film sparked a wave of pre-sales in Spain that overtook Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. “In June we released Backrooms and it was the first time a film of ours topped the release chart with $1.92m [€1.7m] at 303 theatres”, Costa said. “Now La Bola Negra is, by far, our most successful film to date. We are aiming to increase the number of theatres, adding more than 20 to the 415 cinemas we had at its launch.”
Beyond the strengths of the film itself, Costa highlighted Los Javis’ popularity in Spain dating back to their first feature Holy Camp! in 2017 and television series like La Mesías and Paquita Salas. He also noted Netflix’s upcoming 47-day exclusive theatrical release in the US on October 16 ahead of the platform debut on December 2.
Inspired by the life and work of Spanish poet and playwright Federico García Lorca, La Bola Negra is the second feature from Calvo and Ambrossi and presents a multilayered portrait of queer repression in Spain set in three different times – 1932, 1937 and 2017. The Spanish Oscar submission features a cast of newcomers and Penélope Cruz in a supporting role.
Movistar Plus and Suma Content Films produced the feature with Almodóvar’s El Deseo and Atresmedia and France’s Le Pacte. It premiered in Cannes where Los Javis shared the best directing award with Pawel Pawlikowski for Fatherland, and just won the audience award at San Sebastian. Earlier in the month it won the People’s Choice award at Toronto International Film Festival, boosting prospects of a best picture Oscar nomination.
Bayona’s The Impossible from 2012 starring Naomi Watts and Ewan McGregor still holds the overall opening weekend record in Spain on $10.1m (€8.9m) through Warner Bros. The highest-grossing Spanish film of all time, Spanish Affair (2014) distributed by Universal Pictures International Spain, opened on $3m (€2.7m) and 400,000 tickets sold, and finished on a total box office of approximately €56m.
