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Russian basketball blockbuster chalks up over $26.5 mln in sales at box office

The movie is based on a match between the Soviet and US national basketball teams during the final round of the basketball tournament held at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games

MOSCOW, January 12. /TASS/. Dvizheniye Vverkh (or Going Vertical), a Russian sport drama released on December 28, has raked in over 1.5 bln rubles ($26.5 mln) at box offices, as shown in the Federal Information System for film screenings.

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Over the New Year’s weekend, the movie collected more than 108 mln rubles ($1.9 mln), while the second weekend after its release brought in another 634 mln rubles ($11.2 mln). During the holiday season, as many as 426,000 moviegoers watched the flick, while during its second weekend it drew 2.3 mln viewers. That said, total box office sales have exceeded 1.5 bln rubles.

The movie, directed by Anton Megerdichev, is based on a match between the Soviet and US national basketball teams during the final round of the basketball tournament held at the 1972 Munich Olympic Games. The cast includes famous Russian movie stars, such as Vladimir Mashkov, Andrei Smolyakov, Sergei Garmash and Viktoria Tolstoganova. American actor John Savage, a multiple Oscar nominee, plays the US team’s coach Henry Iba.

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