Iran cinema has seen great days regarding sales in the first three months of the current Persian calendar year that started in March, and three new released films are set to follow the same path.
Iranians flocked to cinema halls in large numbers in the first quarter of the year, leading to an increase of sales of 9 million more tickets compared to the same period last year, head of the Association of Iran Cinema Distributors Ali Sartipi said.
The 20 movies released in the first three months grossed $17 million locally while the figure was $4.5 million in the corresponding period last year. Ticket sales this year show a record breaking 10 million so far while it stood at only one million last year, Cinematicket.org reported.
“The 90-day sale of Iran cinema this year has surpassed by about $2 million what it took a whole year to reach two years ago,” Sartipi added hoping that screening quality movies of different genres till the end of the year would attract more viewers and help the domestic movie industry.
So far, half of the screened movies (10 titles) have earned big money in the box office with the top four finding a place among Iran’s top ten best sellers of all time. The comedy ‘50 Kilos of Sour Cherry’ by Mani Haqiqi, bitter drama ‘Life + 1Day’ by Saeed Roustai and political thriller ‘Bodyguard’ have all been great hits and the comedy ‘I Am Not Salvador’ by Manuchehr Hadi earned the title of Iran’s all-time best-seller with $4.5 million breaking the record of last year’s religious epic ‘Muhammad, the Messenger of God’ by Majid Majidi, which took in $4.4 million.
Eid al-Fitr Films
Now, on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr (July 6) which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan, three new films have been released across the country.
The popular comedian Reza Attaran who had the big hit ‘I Am Not Salvador’ as an actor on screen has returned with the fantasy comedy ‘Dracula’ which he has directed and acted in. A new story in Iranian cinema about vampires with actors Vishka Asayesh, Levon Haftvan, Siamak Ansari and Jaleh Sameti, the movie has made a record in its first three-day opening for this year earning over $106,000, beating Mostafa Kiai’s ‘Barcode’ opening sale of $105,000.
Reza Mirkarimi’s ‘Daughter’, which won three awards at the 38th Moscow International Film Festival (MIFF) on June 30, is also on the local screens.
The drama is about a family living in the southwestern city of Abadan, Iran, in which the younger daughter tries to prove her independence in the face of her father’s opposition to her solo trip to Tehran. Despite her father’s objections, she boards the flight and her disobedience ignites a series of incidents that upset the calm and tranquility of the paterfamilias.
Farhad Aslani, Merila Zarei, Mahoor Alvand and Shahrokh Forutanian are in the cast.
A social comedy ‘Zapas’ (spare part) by Borzu Niknejad is another new release. Featuring mostly popular TV comedians Amir Jafari, Rima Raminfar, Javad Ezzati, Elnaz Habibi and Ahmad Mehranfar, the movie has had a slow beginning but is expected to pick up in the coming weeks.
More hit movies are expected to be screened till the end of the year to keep the cinema halls packed with the huge number of film enthusiasts.
