With receipts of over €2.7 million to date, the Palme d’Or winning Irish Civil War drama ‘The Wind That Shakes the Barley’ has become the highest grossing independent Irish film at the Irish box office.
With receipts of over €2.7 million to date, the Palme d’Or winning Irish Civil War drama ‘The Wind That Shakes the Barley’ has become the highest grossing independent Irish film at the Irish box office.
This sees the Ken Loach film surpass recent Irish hit films ‘Intermission’, which took €2.5 million in 2003 and ‘Man About Dog’, which took €2.1 million at the Irish box office in 2004.
According to figures released by Carlton Screen, ‘The Wind That Shakes the Barley’ is also the 4th highest grossing film released in Ireland this year, beating competition from major Hollywood titles such as ‘Mission Impossible III’ and ‘Chicken Little’.
“This is great news for the Irish film industry. The local audience for Irish films is continuing to grow year on year and we’re delighted to see Irish films compete successfully with major Hollywood blockbusters. The strong support the film industry has received from Minister for Arts Sport and Tourism John O’Donoghue and the Irish government is making a real impact and we look forward to seeing more Irish films top the Irish box office.” said Simon Perry, CEO, Irish Film Board
Scripted by Paul Laverty, ‘The Wind That Shakes the Barley’ begins in 1919 and tells the story of two brothers who fought together during the Irish war of Independence. They then find themselves pitted against each other as civil war ensues and betrayal becomes inevitable. The film stars Cillian Murphy, Liam Cunningham and Padraic Delaney and was shot on location in Cork and Kerry for seven weeks.
‘The Wind That Shakes the Barley’ is an Irish-UK-Italian-German-Spanish co-production which was produced by Sixteen Films and Irish company Element Films. The film had a production budget of approximately €6.5 million and had an Irish spend of almost €4 million. The film was produced with financing from the Irish Film Board, the UK Film Council and TV3, amongst others, and is being distributed by Pathé in Ireland and the UK.
