Apocalypto sets UK record
Story by Jack Foley
MEL Gibson’s Apocalypto has enjoyed the highest ever opening weekend box office figure for a foreign language film in the UK, taking £1,360,110 from 385 sites.
The previous record holders were Hero with £1.05 million, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (£686,000) and Amelie (£559,000).
The epic follows the fortunes of lone Mayan hunter Jaguar Paw (played by Rudy Youngblood) after his idyllic existence is brutally disrupted by a violent invading force.
Taken on a perilous journey to a world ruled by fear and oppression, Jaguar Paw finds a harrowing end awaits him until – through a twist of fate and spurred by the power of his love for his stricken family – he makes a desperate break to return home and save his way of life.
Apocalypto, which Gibson co-wrote, directed and produced, is a Greek term meaning “an unveiling” or “new beginning”.
The film is spoken in Mayan dialect, although like his last film, The Passion of The Christ, which he shot in Aramaic, it has English subtitles.
Shooting took place on location in the Mexican state of Veracruz. The cast features actors from Mexico, the United States and Canada as well as indigenous Mayan-speakers from the region of Yucatan.
Watch clips from the film and a featurette