“The Illusion of Peeping” and word of mouth: how “Serf” became the highest grossing Russian film

Klim Shipenko's film “The Serf” became the highest grossing domestic film in the history of film distribution in Russia and the CIS countries. According to the kinobusiness.com portal, the comedy overtook the sports drama "Upward Movement", collecting 3,044.2 million rubles at the box office. - while the box office of Upward Movement amounted to 3,043.7 million rubles.

At the same time, the largest revenue in the domestic film distribution, coupled with the CIS countries, is currently listed by James Cameron's “Avatar” tape - the film's fees have reached 3639.5 million rubles.

The protagonist of the “Kholop” is a leading wild life capital major in the name of Grisha (Milos Bikovic). For poor behavior, the wealthy father of Grisha (Alexander Samoilenko) sends his son to the XIX century. It does without time travel - Grisha's father finances an educational production with the scenery of the Russian village of the century before last. So after another offense, Grisha wakes up as a groom in the courtyard of the estate of the Russian master.

Anatomy of success

Already on the first weekend of rental, the fees of the “Kholop” exceeded 300 million rubles. In all likelihood, such success on the premiere weekend of the show provided, among other things, a good moment for release: in Russia, “Kholop” was released in pre-vacation time - December 26, and the film premiered abroad a month earlier.

In addition, during the New Year and holidays, mainly domestic tapes were presented at the box office, including “Invasion” and “Union of Salvation”. Against the backdrop of the heavy post-apocalyptic film by Fyodor Bondarchuk and the historical drama about the Decembrist uprising, the comedic genius “Serf” was one of the keys to success, RT experts surveyed say.

“The partial success of the“ Serf ”movie rental was due to the fact that it was released during the winter holidays, when there was especially nothing to watch, apart from the fantastic film by Fyodor Bondarchuk, who did not collect such a box office as“ The Serf ”. The success of the comedy is explained by the fact that during the holidays the mood is festive, everyone wants to have fun, watch something that prolongs the festive state. The choice for the viewer was unambiguous, ”said film critic Roman Grigoryev in an interview with RT.

• Shot from the film "Serf"
• © kinopoisk.ru

It is possible that another component of success is a competent advertising campaign. The marketing promotion of the film included widespread advertising on television and the Internet.

Already on January 2, the “Kholop” box office replenished by another 200 million rubles, and in total for the second weekend the box office of the film amounted to more than 1.4 billion rubles. Most likely, such comedy indicators were achieved thanks to positive recommendations - the so-called word of mouth. And there may be many reasons why viewers shared precisely positive impressions, noted film director Klim Shipenko.

“The secret to such commercial success is a deliciously prepared dish served on time for the New Year's table, I would say so. Such a “sundress” does not have any one reason, it is all together. This is not to say that the viewer went because it’s funny, for example. It's funny, but not only. A lot has to coincide. People didn’t just go to the film, but watched it several times, told friends who don’t go to the movies, ”RIA Novosti quoted the director as saying.

The principal advantage of the “Slave”, experts say, lies in the humorous component of the spite of the day, filed without mentoring and Fonvisine didacticism.

“The main component of success is pure entertainment without trying to introduce any content into the consciousness of the viewer, except for universal human conflicts and interests, including those related to the fact that a rich person becomes a hostage of the situation and begins to live like the poor and ordinary people, ”said film critic Kirill Razlogov in an interview with RT.

In his opinion, “Serf” is a film in which the viewer “recognizes himself and his environment very well”. “So, an important contribution was made by the growing need for entertainment as everyday life becomes more and more complicated,” the expert concluded.

Cinema for a wide audience

Viewers also believe that box office tape owes close and understandable audience humor.

Just recommend it. We watched the movie "Serf". Go down. Easy to take off. 2 hours laughing in the course of the plot. If you want 2 hours of good mood - go to the cinema. )))

Another factor in the success of the film is its versatility and the fact that it is addressed to a fairly wide audience.

Reviewers mentioned about the hype around the tape: “A good comedy, almost without vulgar humor, went to the cinema today, parents and children laughed equally, it's great. The film has been rented for a week now, and it’s still difficult to get on it, ”they share their impressions on Twitter.

Users of "Kinopoisk" also did not stint on positive reviews and described in detail the advantages of the film. For example, the ability of filmmakers to retain the attention of an audience.

“What I especially liked: the game of all the actors, the famously twisted often unpredictable plot (I never even looked at my messengers on the phone while I perceived this film), social jokes, some very funny and original, that I did not bother with vulgarity, although not tried to deliberately avoid her, the cameo of Andrei Malakhov in the role of himself, ”one of the reviewers noted.

“The film, which is atypical for comedies, is deep, multifaceted, with an investment of several layers of meaning,” reads another review on Kinopoisk.

Interestingly, if some people like central and recognizable characters, others are impressed by the work of episodic role performers - for example, villagers.

Also, the platform’s visitors, among the advantages of the picture, indicated its format, reminiscent of a reality show with historical flavor: “The main charm of the film is the carefully taken life of the Russian village before the abolition of serfdom, the illusion of“ spying ”on the life of a major in conjunction with a film crew led by Okhlobystin, most kind and simple humor, ”writes one of the viewers.

Some bloggers emphasized that they did not expect such a high-quality product from Russian filmmakers.

I did not think that I would say this, but the RUSSIAN film "Serf" is very good! The emotions are gorgeous, and everything is done wonderfully. Yes, not 10/10 (probably 8/10), but you should see it