Birth of an Empire (Rozhdenie imperii), Andrei Kravchuk’s Peter the Great epic distributed by Central Partnership, opened at No.1 in Russia over the weekend of 29 October–1 November with 469,789 admissions and RUB235.7m ($2.93m) in ticket sales, according to Fond Kino’s ЕАИС weekend 44 report. The four-day haul came from 25,797 screenings at an average ticket price of RUB501.7. Dollar figures use the Bank of Russia’s official USD rate of 80.5573 on 1 November, the Sunday that closed the weekend.
Key facts
- No.1: Birth of an Empire – 469,789 admissions, RUB235,681,757, 25,797 screenings (week 1; 12+)
- Market (Fond Kino chart): about 2.11 million admissions for the weekend; TOP-12 films 1,863,050 admissions (+31.7%) and RUB833.9m (+31.8%)
- TOP-12 share of the period: 88.3% of admissions, 86.9% of gross
- Holdovers: Chudo-Yudo No.2 (340,120 admissions, +17.5%); A Tale of Lost Time No.3 (332,847, +13.6%)
- FX: Bank of Russia, 1 Nov 2026, USD 80.5573
The opening lifts a Russian market that had been tracking below the same weekend in 2025 on admissions: Fond Kino’s weekend chart shows about 2.11 million tickets this year against about 3.41 million in the comparable 2025 weekend, even as the TOP-12 rose roughly a third week on week after a softer prior weekend. That pattern sits in the same global year that Gower Street raised its 2026 forecast and local titles continue to set the tone outside North America and China, as FilmBunch’s October analysis argued.
![Still from Birth of an Empire](https://www.filmbunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/birth-of-an-empire-still-2-2000.jpg "Another still from *Birth of an Empire*, distributed in Russia by Central Partnership. Courtesy of <a href=\\"https://www.film.ru/movies/rozhdenie-imperii/frames\\">Central Partnership / film publicity</a>")
Courtesy of Central Partnership / film publicity
The film and the rest of the TOP-12
Kravchuk directs; Alexander Gorbatov plays Peter, with Yulia Peresild, Milos Bikovic and Alexei Guskov among the billed cast. Producers include Nikita Mikhalkov, Leonid Vereshchagin and Anton Zlatopolsky. Runtime is 2 hours 19 minutes; the Russian rating is 12+. Central Partnership released the film on 29 October. Cumulative admissions through the weekend stood at 470,251 with RUB236.0m, Fond Kino says – almost entirely from the opening frame.
Behind the new release, children’s and family holdovers filled the next places. Chudo-Yudo (NMG) took 340,120 admissions and RUB138.3m in its second weekend. A Tale of Lost Time (Skazka o poteryannom vremeni, AK) had 332,847 admissions and RUB129.0m. Morozko (Central Partnership) added 239,370 admissions. Battle of the Engines (Bitva motorov), still in its fourth weekend for Central Partnership, held fifth with 221,421 admissions and a running total of 1.87 million admissions and RUB970.2m. New wide entries lower in the 12 included Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom (VLG) and the horror title Sinister: House of the Dead (EXP).
![Theatrical poster for Birth of an Empire](https://www.filmbunch.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/11/birth-of-an-empire-poster-1600.jpg "Theatrical poster for *Birth of an Empire* (*Rozhdenie imperii*). Courtesy of <a href=\\"https://www.film.ru/movies/rozhdenie-imperii\\">Central Partnership / film publicity</a>")
Courtesy of Central Partnership / film publicity
Market context
Fond Kino puts the TOP-12’s weekend admissions at 1,863,050 and gross at RUB833,906,900, up 31.7% and 31.8% on the previous weekend. That cluster accounted for 88.3% of admissions and 86.9% of gross in the reported period, with average ticket pricing on the market chart near RUB455. Local historical and family titles again supplied most of the volume; Hollywood library titles such as The Twilight Saga: New Moon appear only at the foot of the 12.
Comparable recent national charts on FilmBunch include China’s October monthly, which fell 22% year on year, and Australia’s calendar run past A$1bn. Russia’s weekend 44 print is a primary ЕАИС extract rather than a distributor estimate.
Our reading
An opening near 470,000 admissions gives Central Partnership a clear local event film for late autumn, but the year-on-year hole in total admissions means one title cannot re-rate the market by itself. Buyers watching Russian supply should track whether Birth of an Empire holds screens in week two against the children’s holdovers and whether Battle of the Engines’s cumulative RUB970m run is the template for mid-budget local action. The next evidence that would settle the opening’s strength is Fond Kino’s week-45 report: a drop of less than half in admissions would mark a genuine base rather than a single-weekend spike.