After just five weeks on release Peter Mullan's prize-winning The Magdalene Sisters has been seen by one in twenty of the Irish population, having passed the Euros 1m mark in the Republic.

According to its Irish distributors Eclipse Pictures, "indications are that it will play in Irish cinemas right into the New Year." The box office figure would suggest approximately 200,000 admissions, or one in twenty of the Irish population.

Commenting on the gross to date of Euros 1,051,802 Eclipse Pictures MD Niamh McCaul said, "We're absolutely thrilled with the success of The Magdalene Sisters. It is the biggest Irish film since Angela's Ashes and is the biggest Irish film in 2002. It is really holding its own against the Hollywood blockbusters, has generated unprecedented word of mouth and bodes well for the future of Irish film industry."

The Magdalene Sisters received a production loan of Euros 165,000 from the Irish Film Board, whose Head of Marketing Moira Horgan said, "This is an excellent result for The Magdalene Sisters and we congratulate everybody involved in bringing this important Irish story to the screen."

The film was released in Ireland at a moment when the Irish media had exposed the gross inadequacy of the Catholic Church's response to decades of clerical sexual abuse of children in Ireland. The effect was that it became "a must-see film", as McCaul put it. "It appeals to all audiences in the Irish market and we have had many comments from exhibitors who have mentioned that the last time they've seen such a cross section of public going to cinema was to see Titanic."

Speaking about the film's success in Ireland, Scottish director Peter Mullan said, "I think a lot if it is because Ireland has changed so much in the past 10 to 15 years, so maybe the time is right to stand back and take stock of what the country was formerly like."

The movie has reversed the usual trend whereby films generally do 60% of their business in Dublin and 40% spread over the rest of the country. Opened on 31 prints on October 25, Eclipse has since upped the number to 37 prints and it is now holding at 36 prints, five weeks into its run.

The Magdalene Sisters has been nominated for Best European Film at the European Film Academy Awards, which will take place on Saturday 7th December. It won The Golden Lion for Best Film at Venice Film Festival and the Discovery Critics Award at Toronto Film Festival earlier this year.