This past weekend local film Leading Lady hit the big screen amongst some tough competition such as The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 but managed to break records by making more money in it’s first weekend than any other South African film!
“Making money at the box office is one thing, but doing it by putting smiles on people’s faces make the mammoth task of creating a film worthwhile,” says writer, director and producer, Henk Pretorius. “The feedback and buzz around Leading Lady has exceeded my wildest expectations! People are even stopping me in shopping malls to ask if I’m the producer of Leading Lady,” says producer, Llewelynn Greeff, while blushing modestly.
Pretorius and Greeff were busy brainstorming their next project at Dark Matter Studios when they received a call from Ster Kinekor informing them that Leading Lady’s opening weekend was even bigger than the popular romantic comedy Semi-Soet, making it one of the biggest South African romantic comedy openings yet! They think that the success of Leading Lady is due to all South Africans embracing and enjoying the film. The goal to make a film for all South Africans, where everyone can laugh with and at each other, may just have been achieved!
Out of the 7 films that director Henk Pretorius has been involved in, this is to date his biggest opening weekend ever! “Which means more ‘Leading Ladies’ are currently adding me to their Facebook than ever before… Result!” Leading Lady earned 1,368 million rand at the South African box office this weekend, pushing the film to the third most popular film during an extremely competitive week. “Not bad, when you are up against Hollywood franchises”, says producer Greeff, as he changes his coffee order for a glass of champagne.
Be sure to catch the film in cinemas today!
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