According to the KinoBusiness Today magazine, taking into account the last weekend, the story about Vysotsky produced by the Cinema Directorate and Channel One collected $26.8 million at the box office (data for Russia and the CIS, excluding Ukraine). This is the fourth result in box office receipts among domestic films in the entire history of box office after The Irony of Fate. Sequel, Admiral and The Best Film (see table). But all of these films were released before the crisis. Box office receipts for Russian films have been declining along with the overall share of domestic films at the box office (it has fallen almost threefold since 2008 to less than 10%). Thus, this year the Russian box office leader, Timur Bekmambetov's comedy Yolki, collected $22.8 million. This same film, according to the head of the state film fund Sergei Tolstikov, was the only Russian film in 2011 that paid for itself at the box office.

"Vysotsky", unlike the same "Yolki", "Ironiya" and "Admiral", did not pay for itself at the box office. The film has a fairly high budget: $12 million for production and $5 million for promotion. The project will make a profit from foreign distribution and the sale of television rights (a series based on the film will be released on Channel One), according to Anatoly Maksimov, CEO of the Cinema Directorate. About a third of the film's budget was provided by the state film fund.

“Vysotsky proved two things: the formula of cinema as a story and the formula of cinema as a mass attraction can successfully coexist in one film,” says Tolstikov, “and Russian cinema, with the application of certain efforts in promotion and talent, can be very popular.”

Maksimov agrees that the film owes its high box office receipts, among other things, to strong promotion on Channel One: "But most importantly, a huge audience accepted this film." Channel One's support helped not only Vysotsky, but also other popular films - Irony and Admiral. On the other hand, the film Krai, also supported by Konstantin Ernst, collected only $5.1 million last year. And of course, the name of the main character meant a lot, says Sergey Selyanov, CEO of the production company STV.

"Vysotsky" is one of the first film projects created and released under the new system of state financing of cinema, Selyanov points out. If previously the Ministry of Culture allocated money for hundreds of films free of charge (up to $1 million per film), then since last year only a few of the largest production companies, including "Directorate of Cinema", have been receiving state funds on a repayable basis through the film fund. Such consolidation of funds will allow a sharp increase in the share of domestic films already in this film distribution year (started on December 1), when more than ten large film projects will be released, the heads of these largest companies expect.

"Vysotsky" showed the box office