Local 'Legend' nabs boffo B.O.

'Tadas Blinda: The Legend is Born'MOSCOW -- A legendary tale of forbidden love, rebellion, sacrifice and recognition occur Czarist-era Lithuania has damaged almost all box office records within the small Baltic condition.The Eu nation of just 3.5 million people is a proportionally small marketplace for local film fare within the two decades because it acquired independence in the Ussr.That appeared to alter overnight when "Tadas Blinda. The Legend Comes Into The WorldInch raked in 175,000 ($235,000) in the opening weekend.Launched Sept. 22 in only nine locations having a total of 13 screens, the costume drama drawn within an audience of 44,500 -- over fifty percent the whole audience of 71,000 that saw the final local hit, "Zero2," which gained an overall total of $365,000 at current forex rates after its release in The month of january 2010.Occur 1861, "Tadas Blinda" informs the storyline of the humble serf who falls deeply in love with the gorgeous daughter of the effective landowner around the eve of the peasant rebellion.The film has touched a nerve in local audiences.Having a cast of top local talent, a handsome hero, beautiful heroine along with a grand historic sweep, it appears be have place the oomph back to a Lithuanian cinema lengthy within the doldrums."In the beginning of the project, the aim ended up being to break the (Lithuanian) box office record of 'Avatar' and reveal that a nearby film can beat the greatest Hollywood hits," states producer Zilvinas Naujokas of Vilnius-based Tauras Films. "Avatar" did around half the company that "Tadas Blinda" has been doing on its opening weekend. Actually, "Tadas Blinda's" opening box office is bested in Lithuania only by "Ice Age 3: Beginning from the Dinosaurs," which required around $300,000 because of its first weekend."We are able to now declare that we haven't only introduced commercial Lithuanian film to movie theaters, but it's also now obvious that individuals here wished to determine this type of film again. There's without doubt this film will end up probably the most effective local production in publish-Soviet Lithuania," Naujokas added.Written like a prequel to some greatly popular 1972 Lithuanian television drama, itself with different local novel, the film was created on the $1.35 million budget.Worldwide sales for "Tadas Blinda" that are being handled by Planeta Inform Film Distribution (the first kind Sovexportfilm), is going to be released in November in the American Film Market in Santa Monica. Contact the range newsroom at news@variety.com