BUCHAREST: Palme d’or winner Fjord by Romanian helmer Cristian Mungiu scored 43,440 admissions at its unique avant-premiere, held on 13 June 2026 at 7p.m. on 315 screens in 96 cinemas from 53 Romanian towns. Only in Bucharest, the film had 16,000 admissions.
The film had a huge response from local audiences as tens of thousands of tickets were sold in the first 24 hours. The screening was a partnership between Mungiu’s Voodoo Films and Forum Film, one of the biggest distributors in Romania.
This is a premiere for an art house film in a country where, since 2020, the only domestic films to reach general top ten have been commercial films, especially comedies. For instance, box office 2026 is now topped by City Boys: Goldn Boyz / Baieti de la oras: Golden Boyz with 702,046 admissions.
Directed by popular comedian Mihai Bendeac and released on an impressive number of screens, 156, by Vertical Entertainment, the film is a remake of a comedy TV series aired on Antena 1 channel in 2016 – 2018. Vertical Content is the producer. In its opening weekend, the film had 194,052 admissions.
“I have nothing against purely commercial cinema, but it would be sad if we limited ourselves only to that genre of films, especially since, with a little bit of skill, you can make films that are both engaging and actually have something to say. We are doing everything we can to ensure that upon its premiere Fjord reaches as many places in the country as possible, including those that don’t have a film theatre yet,” Mungiu said.
In most European countries, the film will reach cinemas starting with August 2026.
Fjord (Romania, France, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland) was produced by Mobra Films, and coproduced by Why Not Productions, Eye Eye Pictures, Garagefilm International, Filmgate Films, Snowglobe, and Aamu Film Company.
