Ukrainian animated family feature Mavka: The Forest Song, which is screening at the Annecy Film Festival this week, has become the highest-grossing Ukrainian film of all time, according to its producers and distributor FILM.UA Group.
It has reportedly racked up 1.2m admissions in Ukraine, as of the end of May since being released on March 2.
Mavka has also been sold to over 80 territories by FILM.UA Group. Due to the sizeable Ukrainian diaspora throughout Europe because of the ongoing Russian invasion, the film is now being released in both its original Ukrainian version and a dubbed version in key territories.
Box office details are not available everywhere. “In the vast majority of countries where the release of the Ukrainian-language version of the movie is in progress, these figures are automatically included in the [overall] box office,” said a Film.UA spokesperson.
These include Germany where the Ukrainian version has grossed €744 555 ($796,055) and has reached 105,350 admissions since its release in late April. A German-language version was released in Germany, Austria and Switzerland on June 7.
In the Netherlands, where the release started on April 19, the Ukrainian-language version has grossed €76,680 in addition to the €469,976 taken by the dubbed copy. The release in Benelux is handled by Justentertainment.
In France, where it was first released on March 29 by Universal Pictures Content Grup and KMBO, the two versions of the film have together garnered some 540,000 admissions overall.
In Italy, where the film went out on April 20, 186,000 tickets have been sold via Notorious Pictures.
In Spain and Andorra, the figure is at €828 210 and 141,655 admissions via Selecta Vision.
The UK release is set for July 28 and is being handled by Dazzler/Miracle. Miracle Communications CEO Martin Myers has confirmed the film will be released in UK cinemas in both an English-language dub and in the original Ukrainian version. The film is set to be released on over 100 screens in the UK. Myers suggested that 15-20 sites are likely to show the Ukrainian version.
“Cinemas will have the opportunity to show out in the Ukrainian language if they what to,” Myers said.
Further distributors confirmed for the film include Italia Film for MENA, Rialto Distribution for Australia and New Zealand, BLITZ Group for Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania, North Macedonia and Kosovo, The Filmbridge for Mongolia, Cinemundo for Portugal, Vertical Distribution for Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria, Skyline for Vietnam, Monolith Films for Poland and Cinemart for the Czech Republic.
Mavka: The Forest Song is a 3D computer- animated fantasy inspired by Ukrainian folklore, It is directed by Oleg Malamuzh and Oleksandra Ruban and produced by Iryna Kostyuk, Anna Eliseeva and Egor Olesov. The film, which has been in development for several years, was supported by Ukrainian State Film Agency, ministry of culture and Information Policy of Ukraine (MKIPUkraine), and the US Agency for International Development (USAID).
The project passed through Cartoon Movie in 2018 and 108. Its teaser was presented at MIFA content market in Annecy in 2017.
At Annecy this week, Animagrad Animation Studios, part of Film UA, is pitching a TV series version of the film. This 3D animated project consists of 12 episodes, each 26 minutes long. The series is a prequel to the movie. “Sixty five percent of the assets are completed and ready to go,” said producers Iryna Kostyuk and Anna Eliseeva.”Characters and locations will be taken from the feature film. The script and the rest of the assets are in the early stages of development. We are in the process of securing the budget and exploring coproduction opportunities.”
The series is being made in collaboration with European animation studio, TeamTO.
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