“We, our pets and the war” collected a record 2.3 million hryvnias in the first weekend

Lion cubs rescued by a volunteer

A frame from the film

Documentary tape of the blogger and host Anton Ptushkin “Us, Our Pets and War” collected $2.3 million in its opening weekend. The film surpassed the collection of the Oscar winner “20 days in Mariupol”.

About this informs Forbes Ukraine with reference to CEO of the distribution company Green Light Films Veronika Yasinska.

About 13,440 viewers watched the film between April 4 and April 7, when it premiered. Also, on the first day of showings, “We, our pets and the war” collected the largest box office in the documentary niche – UAH 359,000.

“This is definitely a successful launch for any film, not just a documentary“, Yasinska said.

The tape was shown in 142 cinemas on 174 screens, taking into account the fact that now only 190 are operating in Ukraine. The film was shown about 240 times every day.

As the manager noted, in contrast, the film “20 days in Mariupol” collected 2.1 million in 16 weekends. After Oscar wins it was returned to cinema distribution. From the beginning of April 2024, the income of the tape “20 days in Mariupol” amounted to 8.7 million hryvnias.

What is the movie about?

“We, our pets and war” — a documentary film from a blogger Anton Ptushkin. The tape tells about the animals that suffered in one way or another from the full-scale invasion, as well as about the volunteers and caring Ukrainians who saved them.

Production on the film began in the summer of 2022. In a year and a half, Ptushkin conducted about 60 interviews with volunteers, workers of zoos and shelters, military personnel in more than 10 cities of Ukraine. Bakhmut was among them shortly before the occupation.

“When we shot this film, I had a lot of complaints about myself. I felt guilty that while everyone else was taking pictures of people, I was taking pictures of animals. But it seems to me that what you will see now is even more about people than about animals. Only you decide“, Ptushkin said at the pre-premiere screening.

“With the beginning of the full-scale invasion, many Ukrainians left their homes to save their lives. Often people fled without having time to take the most necessary things, but together with their pets. Someone was sure that he was going away for a few days, so he left the animals at home. Dogs on chains, cats locked in empty apartments and animals from zoos locked in secure cages. They all wanted to live and needed people’s help. And caring people responded“, says the description of the film.

Previously, the film “20 days in Mariupol” by Mstislav Chernov became the highest-grossing documentary film in the Ukrainian box office. During the first weekend, it collected 531,551 hryvnias. He also set a record for views on Ukrainian streaming platforms. According to the press services of Megogo, “Kyivstar TV”, Takflix and Volia TV, the film “20 days in Mariupol” collected a record number of views among documentaries.