Wish of the Fairy Fish
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAlexandr Voitinsky (ru)
Written byAlexandr Arkhipov (ru)
Based onAt the Pike's Behest
by Alexander Afanasyev
Produced by
  • Sergey Selyanov (ru)
  • Natalya Smirnova
  • Alexandr Gorokhov
Starring
CinematographyVladimir Bashta
Edited by
  • Serik Beyseu
  • Sergey Nesterov
Music bySergey Luran
Production
companies
Distributed byNational Media Group Film Distribution
Release date
  • October 26, 2023 (2023-10-26) (Russia)
Running time
115 minutes
CountryRussia
LanguageRussian
Budget₽660 million
Box office
  • ₽2.487 billion[1]
  • $26.9 million[2]
  • $27.5 million (in Russia)[3]

Wish of the Fairy Fish (Russian: По щучьему велению, romanized: Po shchuch'yemu veleniyu, lit. 'At the Pike's Behest') is a 2023 Russian fairy tale fantasy film directed by Alexandr Voytinsky. Produced by CTB Film Company and Studio Globus, the film is an adaptation of the 1913s Russian fairy tale "At the Pike's Behest" by Alexander Afanasyev. The film follows other adaptations of the fairy tale including the 1938 live-action feature-length film and the 1957 animated short film of the same name filmed in the Soviet Union.[4] The role of Emelya was embodied by Nikita Kologrivy, the Magic Pike was voiced by Mila Ershova, the King declared by Roman Madyanov, and Koschei was played by Fyodor Lavrov. Other roles include Alina Alekseeva, Yuri Kolokolnikov[5] and Agrippina Steklova. The principal photography took place in various locations, such as Saint Petersburg, the city of Perm, and the town of Tobolsk, Tyumen Oblast.[6]

It was theatrically released on October 26, 2023 in Russia by National Media Group Film Distribution.[7][8] The film received critical acclaim and grossed 2 billion rubles.

Plot

In Ancient Russia, a simple Russian man named Emelya the Fool (Emilio in English). He is very lazy and, in order not to help his father (a blind blacksmith), pretends to be small. One day Emelya goes fishing and catches a pike, which turns out to be a sorceress. The Magic Pike, who turned into a girl named Vasilisa the Beautiful, is ready to fulfill any three wishes of the guy, but he is not particularly smart and therefore spends the first two wishes on nonsense. The hero decides to save his third wish.

The main character decides to marry the king’s daughter, the capricious princess Anfisa. And at this time, the English Lord Rothman was visiting Tsar Feofan, who had the same goal. At the same time, Anfisa was not at all averse to marrying a foreigner. The lord brought a mechanical organ as a gift. Feofan did not want to give his daughter to a cute Englishman and said that they had a self-playing button accordion. But in reality he didn’t have this magical tool. At that moment, Emelya jumped out and declared that he would get a magic button accordion for the king. For this, the king promised to give him his daughter as a wife.

Vasilisa and Emelya went to the cat Bayun, who owned a self-playing button accordion. As a result, the man not only did not become dinner for the bloodthirsty cat, but also became friends with him. They have already returned to the palace together. However, Anfisa, with the help of the ghost of her mother Agrippina, sent the groom to pick up the tablecloth. During this adventure, Vasilisa began to fall in love with her simple-minded owner. However, she herself was promised as a wife to the nasty sea king.

Having brought the self-assembled tablecloth, our man was faced with a new task. This time he needed to go to the kingdom of the dead and receive a blessing to marry the princess from her mother. Everyone understood that this was a one-way journey, but Emelya was confident in his abilities. He thought he could return by using the third wish. However, before leaving for the next world, the hero looked at his father and realized that the third wish should be spent on returning his father’s sight.

Emelya and Vasilisa came to the kingdom of Koschei. It turned out that Koschei was Vasilisa’s father and turned her into a pike for educational purposes. However, he agreed to help receive Agrippina's blessing and made peace with his daughter. Returning to the world of the living, Emelya forgot Vasilisa - this was the condition of peace.

The hero returned to Anfisa, but he no longer wanted to marry her. He was tormented by something that he had forgotten. Anfisa had already found out that the man used witchcraft and ordered his execution. Vasilisa stood up for the man and began to serve the princess in exchange for his life. The guy was released, and Anfisa seized power, sending her father into retirement.

Emelya remembered Vasilisa and realized that he loved her. Together with his father and new good friends, he went to save her.[9]

Cast

  • Nikita Kologrivy as Emelya the Fool (English: Emilio), this is a Slavic stove bed for cooking and lounging
A slacker and a blockhead who loves to lie on the stove and do nothing, so much so that he deceives his blind father, pretending to be a child.
  • Mila Ershova as the Magic Pike / the girl Vasilisa
Helps her friend Emelya in every possible way in all his trials.
  • Alina Alekseeva as Princess Anfisa (English: Anthea)
Active and ambitious, a lover of everything Englishman, even the girl’s outfit in a foreign style.
A contender for the hand and heart of Princess Anfisa.
Kind and tired, who is tired of running the state, he prefers a quiet life and passion for what he loves.

Voice cast

  • Mila Ershova as the Magic Pike, voice acting
  • Sergey Burunov as Bayun the Cat, voice acting (English: Croon Cat)
  • Ilya Slanevsky as a Frog, voice acting

Other cast

  • Konstantin Topolaga as Emelya's father
  • Timofey Merenkov as Emelya's son
  • Valeria Rustamova as Emelya's daughter
  • Egor Bakulin as the Sea Tsar (English: The Sea King)
The Sea Tsar, who wants to take a pike as his wife, in the underwater kingdom of Vodyanoy, an aquatic man looks out of the well.
  • Aleksandr Nesterov as a man drinking
  • Andrey Pynzaru as a man eating food
  • Nikolay Kalmykov as Stepan

Production

Development

Alexander Gorokhov, a representative of the CGF Company, which created visual effects for the film Upon the Magic Roads, is responsible for the visual effects in the project.

The animated characters the Magic Pike, Bayun the Cat, Frog and Seahorses were created using CGI combination technology.

Filming

The tourist complex “Abalak”

The winter material was first shot in the selo of Abalak, Tobolsky District; The film's props were placed in the Abalak rural club, near the town of Tobolsk, Tyumen Oblast.

The spring filming has started in the Lenfilm studio pavilions in Saint Petersburg; the scenery of the royal palace was built, and within the walls of the former factory - Koschei. For filming, the decorators developed three stoves, one of which went through the entire filming period, reaching St. Petersburg. And in the summer it is scheduled to continue filming in the Tyumen region; the producers have set up a film site in the tourist complex "Abalak".

Music

Composer Sergey Luran wrote 76 scores of original orchestral music for the film, which were recorded by a symphony orchestra in the first Mosfilm studio. In addition to the instruments of the symphony orchestra, Russian folk instruments were used - balalaika, double bass balalaika, domra and zhaleika.

Release

Wish of the Fairy Fish had its world premiere at the Karo 11 October cinema center on New Arbat Avenue in Moscow on October 17, 2023. The film premiered on October 26, 2023, by National Media Group Film Distribution.

Reception

Box office

During the first weekend, the film fairy tale earned more than 400 million rubles, and a week later, box office receipts exceeded a billion rubles.[10]

References

  1. ↑ Box Office, Russian Cinema Fund`s Analytics (RCFA). Accessed October 26, 2023.
  2. ↑ "Wish of the Fairy Fish (2023)". Box Office Mojo. IMDb. Retrieved November 9, 2023.
  3. ↑ "По щучьему велению (2023) - кассовые сборы" [Wish of the Fairy Fish (2023) - Box Office Gross]. KinoPoisk (in Russian). Retrieved November 9, 2023.
  4. ↑ Once Upon a Time (1957) at IMDb
  5. ↑ "Юрий Колокольников сыграл в сказке "По щучьему велению"" [Yuri Kolokolnikov played in the fairy tale Wish of the Fairy Fish]. RIA Novosti (in Russian). June 6, 2023.
  6. ↑ Chereneva, Vera. "В Петербурге начались съемки фильма "По щучьему велению"" [In St. Petersburg began shooting the film Wish of the Fairy Fish]. Russian Gazette (in Russian).
  7. ↑ Фильм "По щучьему велению" выйдет в кино 26 октября
  8. ↑ "По щучьему велению / Wish of the Fairy Fish, 2023". www.afisha.ru (in Russian).
  9. ↑ "По щучьему велению / Wish of the Fairy Fish, 2023". www.kinoafisha.info (in Russian).
  10. ↑ Evgenia, Stogova (November 4, 2023). "Киносказка «По щучьему велению» заработала больше 1 млрд руб" [The film fairy tale Wish of the Fairy Fish earned more than 1 billion rubles.]. RBK Group (in Russian). Retrieved November 4, 2023.
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