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Russian basketball blockbuster outshines Avatar in fourth weekend of release

American actor John Savage, a multiple Oscar nominee, plays the US team’s coach Henry Iba

MOSCOW, January 22. /TASS/. Going Vertical, a Russian sport drama released on December 28, 2017 which has already proven to be the most successful movie in the history of Russia’s film industry, has set a new box office record, raking in around 345.1 mln rubles ($6.1 mln) in its fourth weekend, according to kinobusiness.com, the largest website on movie industry news. As a result, the sport drama has beat James Cameron’s Avatar, which grossed 336.8 mln rubles ($5.9 mln) in its fourth weekend of release in 2010.

According to the website, Going Vertical’s total box office revenues reached 2.37 bln rubles ($41.9 mln) in 25 days following its release, while Avatar rang up 2.32 bln ($41 mln) rubles in its first 25 days. As many as 9.35 million people have watched the Russian flick.

Going Vertical, directed by Anton Megerdichev, is centered on the 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.