Rotten potatoes

TARA BRADYon the idiosyncracies of the Irish box office

IN THE grand scheme of movie things, the Republic is but a constituent part of a market comprising the UK, Ireland and Malta. But at the multiplex, you will know us by our trail of freakish results.

There are obvious national idiosyncrasies. To the surprise of no one, The Guardjoined the €4 million club last weekend, the third 2011 issue to do so. Having vacuumed up a total of €4,015,471 at home, the cop-shocker joins Harry Potter and the Long Title Part IIand Bridesmaidsat the top of the hit parade.

But the Hibernian G-Man flick has failed to make much of a splash abroad; its $4,483,000 from 203 US theatres is respectable yet unremarkable considering In Bruges’s $7,800,824 tally was hauled from a comparable number of prints.

So why has The Guardbecome the most successful independent Irish production of all time? The film's phenomenal domestic performance cannot be attributed to national loyalty. Nothing seems to scare away indigenous people quite like the implied threat carried by a Guaranteed Irish mark.

But John Michael McDonagh’s debut has swearing in it and thus falls firmly in the Republic’s hands-down favourite genre: The Bawdy Comedy. The golden rule of the Irish box office is the golden rule of bawdy comedy; it’s the reason why Adam Sandler, Will Ferrell, Kevin James, Chris Rock, Kristen Wiig, Danny McBride, Jason Bateman and Rob Schneider (!) have all taken the trouble to stop off on these shores, where most dramatic thespians fear to tread.

Black comedies flounder, cerebral comedies rarely make their mark, but our love affair with the bawdy comedy is the reason Bridesmaidshas taken €4,326,210 here, €75,000 ahead of nearest contender (Harry Potter). The anti-wedding flick's takings are even odder than they first appear: the same film has not fared particularly well in the gigantic landmass outside the US known as Rest of World. In fact, it has not fared particularly well beyond the US's coasts and lakes.

When it comes to humour, a 51st State argument pertains. No place on Earth has welcomed Hollywood’s Golden Age of Comedy quite as warmly as this little territory. Accordingly, there are three US comedies in this week’s top 10, or four if you’re broadminded enough to count The Smurfs.

Other winners included Drive, which scored this week’s best screen average (€4,652) and The Phantom of the Opera.

Huh? That’s right. Last Sunday, the live 25th-anniversary broadcast of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical took 17 per cent of its UK totals from 18 screens in the Republic, thus breaking all records for alternative cinema content.

Is it normal for a nation of Will Ferrell addicts to go gaga over a satellite link with the Royal Albert Hall? Possibly not, but it still makes more sense than global flop Abduction sitting pretty at No 1 in Northern Ireland. Ulster hearts Taylor Lautner. Who knew?