‘Troy’ Greek box-office hit
Wolfgang Petersen’s «Troy» broke all box office records in Greece. In just three days, 200,000 people went to see the Hollywood epic, which features Brad Pitt, Eric Bana and Peter O’Toole, at 145 cinemas around Greece, while sales in the 58 Athens cinemas where it was showing reached 95,000 tickets. Despite many viewers’ reservations regarding the film’s inconsistencies with Homer’s epic «Iliad,» people flocked to the cinemas in higher numbers than for «The Lord of the Rings.» The final part of the trilogy held the record so far, with 155,000 tickets sold in 85 cinemas during the first three days of screening. The record was previously held by «Matrix Reloaded» (145,000 tickets in 106 cinemas) and «Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets» (126,000 tickets in 66 cinemas). What is even more striking is that 90 percent of the weekend cinema sales went to «Troy,» meaning that nine out of 10 cinema-goers chose to see «Troy.» The film did well in the United States too, although the three-day box office $45.6 million was considerably less than the almost 52 million that went to «Van Helsing» the previous weekend. However, according to film market experts, «Troy» is the kind of film that stays longer in cinemas and maintains its commercial value, compared to blockbusters, the sales of which diminish by at least 50 percent by the second weekend of distribution.
