Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi’s queer period epic La Bola Negra has reached the €25m ($27.9m) threshold following its third week on release in Spain to become the seventh highest-grossing local film of all time in the territory.
Spanish distributor Elastica Films reported the €25m box office figure on Tuesday, following a long weekend in Spain due to the national holiday on Monday. It opened on September 25.
“La Bola Negra grossed $5.56m (€4.96m) this third weekend,” says Enrique Costa, co-founder of Elastica Films and head of the company’s distribution arm.
“The result was higher than the results it made on the first, which were already outstanding. And that is something we rarely see. It proves that the film has been able to reach both young and older audiences.”
The film has now matched the €25m grossed by J.A. Bayona’s The Orphanage, distributed by Warner Bros, in 2007.
La Bola Negra’s opening weekend established the film as the second-best opening by any Spanish film this year, just behind Sony Pictures’ release of Torrente For President, the latest in Santiago Segura’s mainstream comedy franchise that grossed $7.9m (€6.9m) in March and now has a total gross of $31.3m (€28m).
The film is currently screening in 455 theatres in Spain, Costa confirmed, a rise on the initial 415 it opened on. Expectations are high in Spain: the Fiesta del Cine (October 19-22), the promotional weekend that offers tickets for just $3.9 (€3.5), could also have a significant impact in the ticket sales for the film in the upcoming days.
Inspired by the life and work of Spanish poet and playwright Federico García Lorca, La Bola Negra is set in three different times – 1932, 1937 and 2017. It features a cast of newcomers and Penélope Cruz and Glenn Close in supporting roles.
The film earned Calvo and Ambrossi the best directing award in Cannes -ex-aequo with Pawel Pawlikowski for Fatherland. To date, it has also won the audience award at San Sebastian and the People’s Choice award at Toronto.
Movistar Plus and Suma Content Films produced the feature with Almodóvar’s El Deseo and Atresmedia and France’s Le Pacte.
Netflix has selected territory rights, including North America; Altitude is releasing in the UK.
La Bola Negra is Spain’s entry to the international film Oscar.
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