The Slovak romantic comedy “And a Happy New Year 2,” directed by Jakub Kroner, has grossed Euros 1.11 million ($1.19 million) at the local box office over five weeks of release, which is more than any Hollywood blockbuster earned in the country so far this year. Its stellar run continues the success achieved by home-grown romantic comedies in the past two years, according to online news service Film New Europe.
“And a Happy New Year 2” is a sequel to Kroner’s comedy “The New Year’s Kiss,” which was one of the first to kick-start this trend at the end of 2019, when it topped the Slovak box office over its opening weekend, with 56,555 admissions and a Euros 337,680 gross. Both films were produced by InOut Studio.
This year started with another hit Slovak romantic comedy, “Till the Summer Comes,” by Marta Ferencová (produced by Nunez NFE, and coproduced by Trinity Pictures), which after its premiere on Feb. 17 remained on top of the charts for the first two weeks. After nine weeks in cinemas, the film had 122,522 admissions and took Euros 807,255 by April 10, according to the Union of Slovak Distributors.
As a comparison, “The Batman” had 76,844 admissions and earned Euros 556,952 in seven weeks, while the animated musical “Sing 2” had 89,015 admissions and earned Euros 538,369 in nine weeks.
Courtesy of FNE
Last year, the Slovak remake of the Italian film “Perfect Strangers,” “Known Unknown,” directed by Zuzana Marianková and produced by Wandal Production in coproduction with Angry Tiger and En Libre, ranked second in admissions for the year with 107,306 admissions.
Another romantic comedy, Marta Ferencová’s “Far Too Personal,” produced by Czech Joy Department, in coproduction with Slovakia’s Nunez NFE and Trinity Pictures, ranked second with 175,640 admissions in 2020, while the “The New Year’s Kiss” took third place that year with 78,113 admissions.
First place in 2020 belonged to another local film – political thriller “Scumbag,” directed by Mariana Čengel Solčanská and Rudolf Biermann, coproduced by CinemArt SK, IN Film Praha and Magic Seven Slovakia, which had 395,604 admissions.
This article is published in partnership with online news service Film New Europe, which covers film and TV industry news from across Central and Eastern Europe.