Most popular domestic movies of all time in Brazil 1970-2021, by number of admissions

The two domestic films that officially sold the highest number of tickets in Brazil between 1970 and 2021 were both co-produced by the free channel Record TV. "Nothing to Lose" (2018) – a biopic of the owner of Record TV and founder of the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God (UCKG), Edir Macedo – recorded a total of 12 million tickets sold. Meanwhile, "Moses and the 10 Commandments: The Movie" (2016) – a re-edited version of a Record TV's telenovela based on the Old Testament – reported 11.3 million tickets sold. But the two figures were deemed controversial, as Macedo and the UCKG were accused of pre-ordering movie tickets for both films and then distributing them for free. Both the church and its leader denied the allegations.

Militia and naked ghosts

"Elite Squad 2: The Enemy Within" (2010) sold more than 11 million tickets. The sequel features a member of a police tactical unit slowly realizing the structural flaws that connect politics and crime in Brazil. The fifth place, "Dona Flor and Her Two Husbands" (1976), stars diva Sônia Braga as the title character of the famous novel by Jorge Amado (1912-2001). The story of a widowed Brazilian cook who marries a dull pharmacist while haunted by the aroused and arousing nude ghost of her first spouse sold about 10.7 million tickets amidst the civic-military dictatorship of Brazil.

The drag mother of a nation

"My Mom Is a Character 3" (2019) – nearly 11 million movie tickets sold – is the last installment of a trilogy often described as a phenomenon in Brazilian theater and cinema. Inspired by his relatives, the creator and star of the films, Paulo Gustavo, played a touching caricature of the stereotypical Brazilian mother: hawk-eyed, irascible, and protective. The success of the character led Dona Hermínia – his drag persona – to become the face of Banco do Brasil, one of the top banks in Latin America, founded over two centuries ago. Gustavo's death due to COVID-19 in May 2021, at age 42, left a legion of orphans eager for more opportunities to laugh at a movie theater.