Polish Box Office Hit & International Oscar Hopeful ‘Corpus Christi’ Sells Around The World
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EXCLUSIVE: Jan Komasa’s Corpus Christi, the Polish drama which premiered in this year’s Venice Days program, is doing strong business for sales rep New Europe Film Sales.
A set of fresh deals on the title have been closed off the back of its strong box office debut in its native Poland this weekend, which saw it clock 165,000 admissions in three days via local distributor Kino Swiat, equating to $873,000 (3.4m PLN).
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For comparison, the result is double that of Pawel Pawliwkoski’s Oscar-nominated Polish drama Cold War, which started with 85,000 admissions in Poland in June 2018 (also via Kino Swiat), before eventually growing to more than one million.
Corpus Christi is Poland’s submission to this year’s International Oscar race.
The film has now sold to a total of 35 territories, with the latest closed including Singapore (Lighthouse), Russia & CIS (Volga), Hungary (Cinefil), Colombia, Central America, Ecuador (Cineplex), Mexico (Alameda Films), Czech Republic and Slovakia (Association of Czech Film Clubs), Denmark and Sweden (Coolture I Norge).
Vertigo Films picked up UK and Ireland rights on the title after its Venice premiere and will release on Friday (October 18). Additional significant territories sold include France (Bodega), Australia and New Zealand (Palace), and Spain (Surtsey).
Corpus Christi stars Bartosz Bielenia as a 20-year-old who experiences a spiritual transformation in a youth detention centre. Though his crime denies him the opportunity to officially learn to serve as clergy, he pursues his dream by dressing as a priest and ministering a small-town parish. Mateusz Pacewicz wrote the screenplay and producers were Leszek Bodzak and Aneta Cebula-Hickinbotham.
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