List of Soviet films of the year by ticket sales
Here are the films of the USSR with the greatest number of ticket sales during the year in question.[1][2] Note that, in line with the definition above, this list does not include many Soviet TV series and other TV movies, which were not shown in cinemas of the USSR.
Accordingly, the list includes sales during each year only, which often means that the total number of tickets sold was even bigger. As an example, according to the list below the film The Red Snowball Tree, the top seller of the year 1974, sold 62.5 million tickets during that year. But the total number of sold tickets during all years was in fact 140 million.[3] This figure is comparable to some of the United States' all-time highest ticket sellers, such as The Sound of Music, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, and Titanic, in fact exceeding the latter's estimated ticket sales of 135.5 million.[4]
In the mid-1960s, the annual gross ticket sales in the Soviet Union amounted to 1 billion Soviet rubles.[5] At the 1960s exchange rate of 0.9 rubles per US dollar,[6] this was $1.11 billion (equivalent to $9 billion in 2016). This included both domestic Soviet films and foreign films, which drew higher average ticket sales than domestic productions.[7][5] Indian films had the strongest presence in the foreign blockbuster charts for four decades, followed by American films.[8][7] Foreign imports included 300 Indian films[9] (most of which were Bollywood films), 41 American films (Hollywood), and 38 French films.[7][5]
Domestic films
Year | Russian title | English title | Tickets sold (millions) | IMDB entry |
---|---|---|---|---|
1940 | Истребители | The Fighters | 27.1 | |
1944 | В шесть часов вечера после войны | Six O'Clock in the Evening After the War | 26.1 | |
1945 | Без вины виноватые | Guilty Without Guilt | 28.91 | |
1946 | Каменный цветок | The Stone Flower | 23.17 | |
1947 | Подвиг разведчика | Secret Agent | 22.73 | |
1948 | Молодая гвардия | The Young Guard | 42.4 | |
1949 | Встреча на Эльбе | Encounter at the Elbe | 24.2 | |
1950 | Смелые люди | Brave People | 41.2 | |
1951 | В мирные дни | In Peaceful Time | 23.5 | |
1952 | Незабываемый год 1919 | The Unforgettable Year 1919 | 31.6 | |
1953 | Любовь Яровая | Lyubov Yarovaya | 46.4 | |
1954 | Судьба Марины | Marina's Destiny | 37.9 | |
1955 | Солдат Иван Бровкин | Private Ivan | 40.37 | |
1956 | Карнавальная ночь | Carnival Night | 48.64 | |
1957 | Сёстры | The Sisters | 42.5 | |
1958 | Над Тиссой | Over Tissa | 45.74 | |
1959 | Ч.П.-Чрезвычайное Происшествие | E.A. — Extraordinary Accident | 47.5 | |
1960 | Вдали от Родины | Far from the Motherland | 42.0 | |
1961 | Полосатый рейс | Striped Trip | 32.34 | |
1962 | Человек-амфибия | The Amphibian Man | 65.5 | |
1963 | Оптимистическая трагедия | Optimistic Tragedy | 46.0 | |
1964 | Живые и мёртвые | The Alive and the Dead | 41.5 | |
1965 | Операция „Ы“ и другие приключения Шурика | Operation Y and Shurik's Other Adventures | 69.6 | |
1966 | По тонкому льду | On Thin Ice | 42.5 | |
1967 | Кавказская пленница, или Новые приключения Шурика | Kidnapping, Caucasian Style | 76.54 | |
1968 | Щит и меч | The Shield and the Sword | 68.3 | |
1969 | Бриллиантовая рука | The Diamond Arm | 76.7 | |
1970 | Неподсуден | Not Under the Jurisdiction | 43.3 | |
1971 | Офицеры | Officers | 53.4 | |
1972 | Джентльмены удачи | Gentlemen of Fortune | 65.02 | |
1973 | Всадник без головы | The Headless Horseman | 64.9 | |
1974 | Калина красная | The Red Snowball Tree | 62.5 | |
1975 | Афоня | Afonya | 62.2 | |
1976 | Табор уходит в небо | Gypsies Are Found Near Heaven | 64.9 | |
1977 | Несовершеннолетние | The Age of Innocence | 44.6 | |
1978 | Служебный роман | Office Romance | 58.4 | |
1979 | Женщина, которая поёт | A Woman Who Sings | 54.9 | |
1980 | Пираты ХХ века | Pirates of the 20th Century | 87.6 | |
1981 | Тегеран-43 | Teheran 43 | 47.5 | |
1982 | Спортлото-82 | Sportloto-82 | 55.2 | |
1983 | Вокзал для двоих | Station for Two | 35.8 | |
1984 | Любовь и голуби | Love and Pigeons | 44.5 | |
1985 | Самая обаятельная и привлекательная | The Most Charming and Attractive | 44.9 | |
1986 | Двойной капкан | Double Trap | 42.9 | |
1987 | Человек с бульвара Капуцинов | A Man from the Boulevard des Capucines | 39.8 | |
1988 | Маленькая Вера | Little Vera | 54.9 | |
1989 | Интердевочка | Intergirl | 41.3 |
Foreign films
This is a list of foreign films that sold the most tickets at the Soviet box office.[10] Among the foreign films that sold more than 20 million tickets in the Soviet Union, 50 were Indian films (Bollywood),[11][12] the highest from any nation,[7] followed by 41 American films (Hollywood) and 38 French films.[7]
Year | English title | Russian title | Country | Original release |
Tickets sold (millions)[10] |
IMDB entry |
Gross[n 1] (million SUR) |
Gross (million USD) |
Adjusted gross (million USD) |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1975 | Yesenia | Есения | Mexico | 1971 | 91.4 | 22.85 | 31.3[n 2] | 142 | |
1961 | The Magnificent Seven | Великолепная семёрка | USA | 1960 | 67 | 16.75 | 18.61[n 3] | 152 | |
1954 | Awaara | Бродяга | India | 1951 | 63.7 | 29[15] | 7.25[n 4] | 66 | |
1974 | Mackenna's Gold | Золото Маккенны | USA | 1969 | 63 | 15.75 | 20.9[n 5] | 104 | |
1967 | Spartacus | Спартак | USA | 1960 | 63 | 15.75 | 17.5[n 3] | 128 | |
1975 | Bobby | Бобби | India | 1973 | 62.6 | 15.65 | 21.44[n 2] | 98 | |
1976 | The White Dress | Белое платье | Egypt | 1973 | 61 | 15.25 | 20.12[n 6] | 87 | |
1984 | Disco Dancer | Танцор диско | India | 1982 | 60.9 | 60[16] | 75.85[n 7] | 179 | |
1978 | Barood | Мститель | India | 1976 | 60 | 15 | 21.25[n 8] | 80 | |
1978 | The Four Charlots Musketeers | Четыре мушкетёра Шарло | France | 1974 | 56.6 | 14.15 | 20.04[n 8] | 75 |
See also
Notes
- ↑ Estimates based on number of tickets sold at average ticket price of 25 kopecks,[13] unless otherwise noted.
- 1 2 0.73 rubles per dollar in 1975[14]
- 1 2 0.9 rubles per dollar from 1961 to 1971[14]
- ↑ 4 rubles per dollar from 1950 to 1960[14]
- ↑ 0.7536 rubles per dollar in 1974[14]
- ↑ 0.758 rubles per dollar in 1976[14]
- ↑ 0.791 rubles per dollar in 1984[14]
- 1 2 0.706 rubles per dollar in 1978[14]
References
- ↑ Sergey Kudryavtsev. "Отечественные фильмы в советском кинопрокате".
- ↑ "Prokat2". Kinokultura.com. Archived from the original on 2012-05-10. Retrieved 2012-10-09.
- ↑ "Interview with Boris Pavlenok, deputy director of the USSR GosKino". Kommersant.ru. Retrieved 2012-10-09.
- ↑ "All Time Box Office > Domestic Grosses: Adjusted for Ticket Price Inflation". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved April 15, 2018. * Adjusted to the estimated number of tickets sold. Inflation-adjustment is mostly done by multiplying estimated admissions by the latest average ticket price. Where admissions are unavailable, adjustment is based on the average ticket price for when each film was released (taking into account rereleases where applicable).
- 1 2 3 The Routledge Handbook of the Cold War, page 357, Routledge, 2014
- ↑ Archive of Bank of Russia http://cbr.ru/currency_base/OldDataFiles/USD.xls
- 1 2 3 4 5 Moscow Prime Time: How the Soviet Union Built the Media Empire that had Lost the Cultural Cold War, page 44, Cornell University Press, 2011
- ↑ Indian Films in Soviet Cinemas: The Culture of Movie-going After Stalin, page 75, Indiana University Press, 2005
- ↑ "With love from India to Russia". Russia Beyond. 22 October 2009.
- 1 2 Sergey Kudryavtsev. "Зарубежные фильмы в советском кинопрокате".
- ↑ A Taste for Indian Films: Negotiating Cultural Boundaries in Post-Stalinist Soviet Society, page 312, Indiana University
- ↑ Sergey Kudryavtsev. "Зарубежные популярные фильмы в советском кинопрокате (Индия)".
- ↑ Moscow Prime Time: How the Soviet Union Built the Media Empire that Lost the Cultural Cold War, page 48, Cornell University Press, 2011
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Archive of Bank of Russia http://cbr.ru/currency_base/OldDataFiles/USD.xls
- ↑ Indian Films in Soviet Cinemas: The Culture of Movie-going After Stalin, page 211, Indiana University Press, 2005
- ↑ Bollywood returns to Russian screens, Russia Beyond the Headlines, September 2009