It’s official… Emilio Martínez-Lázaro is responsible for Spain’s all-time highest-grossing film.
The Spanish director’shit film 8 apellidos vascos (Spanish Affair) has broken Spanish box-office records, becoming the top-grossing Spanish title of all time, outranking The Impossible, with more than $61.5 million in sales and sitting behind only Avatar as the second-best performer in Spain.
Written by Diego San Jose and Borja Cobeaga, the film turns on Rafa, who’s never once thought of leaving his beloved Seville in Spain’s deep south until he meets Amaia, from a village in the Basque Country, in Spain’s deep North. Rafa is willing to perform the impossible to conquer her: leave Seville or pretend to be Basque.
The romantic comedy, starring Karra Elejalde, Clara Lago and Alberto López, has entrenched itself at the No. 1 spot in the weekly box-office rankings for the full seven weeks it’s been in theaters, with more than 7.5 million tickets sold. It’s the only Spanish title ever to stay in the top slot for seven consecutive weeks.
In its seventh weekend, the film produced by Telecinco Cinema and LaZona Films, earned €3.4 million, or €9,700 per screen, accounting for some 44 percent of overall box-office revenue.
The film has led Spain to post its best domestic films’ market share ever, with homegrown fare cornering 27 percent of ticket sales as of April 20, according to Rentrak Spain.
