‘Düğün Dernek 2’ most watched film in 2015

ISTANBUL

Including the number of this week’s audiences, Turkey is expected to reach 60 million cinema-goers this year, according to information provided by Box Office Turkey. 

In the first 51 weeks of 2015, the number of cinema-goers was 58,490,790 and total revenue in the Turkish cinema sector was 657,965 million Turkish Liras. 

Last year, more than 61 million people watched films in movie theaters and the total revenue was 652,906,723 liras. 

Eight Turkish films were among the top ten most watched films in theaters across the country this year, while only two high-budget Hollywood films are on the list. 

Among the films released, “Düğün Dernek 2: Sünnet” (Wedding Feast), starring Murat Cemcir and Ahmet Kural was seen by 4,726,991 people in three weeks and became the most watched film in the country. The film earned eight percent of the total box office revenue. 

Mahsun Kırmızıgül’s “Mucize” (Miracle) reached 3,582,552 viewers and ranked second on the list. 

In the most watched foreign films category, “Titanic” was overtaken after holding the record for many years by “Fast and Furious 7” with 2,960,47 viewers. The film was the third-most watched film in Turkey in 2015. 

Şahan Gökbakar’s “Recep İvedik 4,” which was released last year, kept its title again this year as the most watched film in Turkey since 1989. 

Speaking to daily Hürriyet, Mars Cinema CEO Muzaffer Yıldırım said two national elections had a negative impact on box office revenues.  

“This year’s October and November were 30 percent behind compared to the same term of last year. But Turkish films that were released in the last days of the year had a positive impact on total revenues. Even though the number of viewers fell by 1 million, the rising revenue gave hope. We reached 840 million liras, including 670 million in [ticket] revenue and 170 million liras in concession and advertisement revenue,” he said.