Apr 04, 2026
3 min read
With more than three million since its March 13 premiere, the film threatens the historic reign of the Emilio Martínez Lazaro comedy, which reached 9.5 million (although those were different times).
Will 'Torrente Presidente' overtake 'Eight Basque Surnames' as highest grosser in Spanish cinema?
Having surpassed three million viewers since its premiere on March 13, the film threatens the historical reign of Emilio Martínez Lázaro's comedy, which reached 9.5 million viewers (although it was different times).
Three million Spanish viewers have already seen Torrent Presidente in cinemas, the new film on the story of Santiago Segura that has brought them the most joy over the years.This was confirmed by its distributor Sony through a press release this morning.Since its premiere last Friday, March 13, it has secured an impressive record at the box office, gathering all kinds of people in front of the big screen to entertain with the comedies and misadventures of its special characters.
It is worth wondering if, given this brilliant premiere, it will become the highest-grossing film in the history of our country.We Spaniards really like to laugh, proof of this is that the box office record is held by Eight Basque Surnames (2014), directed by Emilio Martínez Lázaro and produced, curiously enough, by Mediaset España, a competitor of Atresmedia, the production company of Torrente Presidente.The record of this very Spanish comic fantasy is very difficult to beat, since it was seen by 9.5 million people in cinemas, earning more than 56 million euros (more than ten years ago).
It is true that before the cinema was cheap, so the comparison with Torrenta President had to be made in relation to the number of viewers going to the cinema and not so much according to the collection (Segura already has more than 18 million euros).We must also take into account the post-pandemic factor, which Segura himself identified in an interview with this newspaper, "After Corona, the box office is very strange and weak".Since 2020, we go to cinemas less and less, but now six years have passed since the lockdown and cinemas are back to normal.In fact, it is expected that in the coming days it will release the first film in the saga, Torrente 2: Mission in Marbella in 1998, which went to see more than 3 million viewers.
Besides, we have to count on the fact that the upcoming Easter holidays will go in their favor, as box office expert Pau Brune told this newspaper a few days ago."Now Easter is coming and both are well positioned, and their online and media presence is very strong.
The pandemic has clearly changed our box office numbers, as the top ten highest-grossing films were mostly from 2000 to 2015.Alongside the comedy legend of Emilio Martinez-Lazaro, Juan Antonio Bayona remains our highest-grossing director of 2015."Basques" beat "Catalan," attracting 5.7 million theater viewers.However, the second highest-grossing film of all time is The Others, directed by Alejandro Amenabar and starring Nicole Kidman, which was released at the start of the new millennium in 2001 and is the second-highest grossing film of all time (6.4 million viewers).
We discuss Bayona because three of his films are in the ratings (and none of them are comedies). In the face of natural disaster from the tsunami that rocked the coasts of Thailand and Indonesia in December, the family drama "Impossible" grossed 6.129 million in 2007.
It is a curious fact that the fifth film in history was born in the last century: Death Had a Price by Sergio Leone.
An interesting fact is that the fifth highest-grossing film in history belongs to the last century: Death Has a Price, Sergio Leone's classic western starring Clint Eastwood, released in 1965, set an all-time box office record, attracting 5.5 million viewers.In seventh place is the cartoonist Francisco Ibáñez and his comic strip “Mortadelo y Filemón,” which was shown live on the big screen in 2003 by Javier Fesser and attracted almost 5 million viewers.
Three million Spanish viewers have already seen in cinemas Torrente Presidente, the new film in the Santiago Segura saga, which has given them so much joy over the years.This morning, its distributor, Sony, confirmed it through a press release.Since its premiere last Friday, March 13, it has amassed a spectacular box office collection that brings all kinds of people together in front of the big screen to be amused by the antics and misadventures of its charismatic character.
