A hat trick. Distributed by Universal Pictures Intl., “A Monster Calls” has overhauled “The Secret Life of Pets,” to become the highest-grossing film of the year in Spain, besting the biggest Hollywood studio titles of this year, Variety reports.
Starring Felicity Jones and Liam Neeson, “A Monster Calls” grossed €235,341 ($262,057) on Friday, November 4 at Spanish cinema theaters for a total Spanish gross of €21.9 million ($24.4 million), and counting.
That gives “A Monster Calls’” director, Spain’s Juan Antonio Bayona, his third No. 1 movie of the year. Godfathered by Guillermo del Toro, his first feature, “The Orphanage” topped movie charts in Spain in 2007, earning €25.1 million ($27.9 million) again beating all Hollywood contenders; “The Impossible” (€42.4 million: $47.2 million) followed suit in 2012.
Whether Bayona can retain his 2016 box office by the end of the year is another question: “A Monster Calls” may face tough competition from “Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them,” even “Rogue One: A Star Wars Story”, Variety said.
But, with gas in the tank, “A Monster Calls,” though unlikely to come close to “The Impossible,” the film’s performance looks set to give Bayona three of the six biggest Spanish movie hits of all time in his native Spain. Only Emilio Martinez Lazaro, who helmed both “8 Apellidos Vascos” (€55.4 million: $61.7 million) and “8 Apellidos Catalanes” (€35.4 million: $39.4 million) broad farces which rib nationalistic stereotypes in Spain (before, naturally, puncturing them), can compare in popularity.
All Bayona’s movies and Emilio Martinez Lazaro’s comedy diptych were co-produced by Telecinco Cinema, the powerful movie production arm of TV network Mediaset España, which can bring finance, ambition and a long experience of making and marketing big Spanish films,, by Spain’s standards, to domestic audiences. With “A Monster Call’s” current B.O. trawl, Telecinco Cinema will in the next week-of-so have co-produced five of the six highest-grossing Spanish movies of all time in Spain and 12 of the top 20.
So the big question now is how “A Monster Calls” plays abroad, Variety said. Produced out of Spain by Apaches Ent., Telecinco Cinema and Peliculas La Trini, and financed and distributed by Focus Features, River Road, Participant Media and Lionsgate, which sold international rights to the film, “A Monster Calls” is slated to open in the U.S. via Focus Features on Dec. 23 on limited release, and from Jan. 6 on wide release.
