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"The Ten Commandments" Conquers Largest Audience in History of Brazilian Cinema with Empty Film Screenings

04/11/2016 - 09h28

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GABRIELA SÁ PESSOA
FROM SÃO PAULO

Brazilian cinema has a new champ. On Sunday (10), "The Ten Commandments", the film adaptation of the Rede Record network soap opera, beat out Elite Squad: The Enemy Within to become the best selling national film since the establishment of Embrafilme in 1970, which initiated this type of analysis.

According to the distributor Paris Filmes, using data from the site Film B which specializes in that type of information, 11.2 million tickets were sold.

However, the number does not mean that the biblical feature reached more people than José Padilha's film, which achieved an audience of 11.1 million in 2010. That is because a type of miracle took place with a multiplication of tickets: officially sold out screenings sported empty seats.

At 4 pm on a Thursday (31/3), at the Cinemark ticket window in the Raposo Tavares shopping mall, one ticket agent said there were no more tickets for "The Ten Commandments". The agent clarified that the screening was closed to the public for a private event.

Upon questioning, the agent explained that a pastor purchased all of the tickets for the screening in cash (at least US$1,046). The manager confirmed the story and Folha news team barely counted 15 movie goers across the 279 seats.

Cinemark confirmed that it sold entire screenings of "The Ten Commandments", but did not provide further details.

On Saturday (9), a similar situation was observed in the same theater. Two screening rooms were reserved for the 10:30 feature: the theater ended up only making one available, and even then, the majority of the seats were empty.

One of the individuals responsible for the theater said they had engaged in group sales for churches and the occupancy rate had been near 70 percent. And that presale is normal for blockbusters like "The Ten Commandments": those who buy don't always attend.

According to screeners and distributors, this happens frequently with religious films, which tend to mobilize groups of faithfuls.

They mentioned "Maria, Mother of the Son of God" (2003), with Marcelo Rossi, and "Our Home" (2010) in which, spiritual centers held private screenings and distributed tickets as instructed by the Brazilian Spiritist Federation.

The Universal Church of Edir Macedo, who also owns the Rede Record network (and rights to the film), denies having acquired tickets for "The Ten Commandments", consistent with what has been communicated repeatedly to the press, which is finding it difficult to accept the fact.

Accurate or not, the box office success of The Ten Commandments is an accomplishment for the church and the Rede Record network, after oddly reproducing its longstanding TV feud with Globo on the big screen-"Elite Squad: The Enemy Within" belongs to Globo Films.

Translated by SUGHEY RAMIREZ

Read the article in the original language

Marcelo Justo/Folhapress
The presale is normal for blockbusters like "The Ten Commandments": those who buy don't always attend
The presale is normal for blockbusters like "The Ten Commandments": those who buy don't always attend

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