Directed by Togan Gokbakar and produced by Aksoy Film (www.aksoyfilm.com.tr) and Ozen Film (www.ozenfilm.com.tr) the series has become the most successful series in Turkish box office history.
The Recep Ivedik series has dominated the Turkish box office number one spot for the past three years. The first film was released in 2008 with 230 prints and scored 4.3m admissions and made 30.1m TL at the box office. It was followed by Recep Ivedik 2 in 2009 a 372 print release that scored 4.3m admissions and made 33.49m TL at the box office.
The series has also been an international box office hit with Turkish audiences in other parts of Europe. The first film was released in Germany, Austria, Belgium and the Netherlands and had 426, 494 admissions and a box office of 2.88m Euros. The second film was released in the same countries plus England and France and had 620 734 admissions and a box office of 4.3m Euros. The third film added Denmark and has made 531 433 admissions and 3.9m Euros at the box office since its release at the beginning of February this year.
Ozenfilm is one of Turkey's top distributors with a 26% market share. Ozenfilm is also the coproducer and distributor of the money spinning Recep Ivedik franchise. FNE asked Ozenfilm helmer Mehmet Soyarslan when we can look forward to Recep Ivedik 4. He said: "Maybe we will make a fourth installment, but nothing is in the pipeline yet. Gokbakar is thinking about it and we will only continue if he has an especially good idea. We won't just keep churning them out."
Nine out of the top ten films at the box office so far in 2010 are local productions with only Alice in Wonderland the only foreign film edging into the number 10 position.