Russian bloggers Milana Khametova, aged 14, and Dava, real name David Manukyan, played the central roles in the comedy Not Home Alone. In an interview with NSN they discussed how the film could recoup its costs. The film emerged as the most successful official new release of the weekend with earnings of 42.5 million rubles, according to film critic and blogger Evgeny Bazhenov, known online as BadComedian.
Bazhenov also noted that most films featuring bloggers from Russia do not perform well. He added that he did not know Dava and Khametova personally.
Not Home Alone does not carry a mega budget, and it seems the cast could have drawn their own audience to help balance the budget for the smaller project. Based on early chatter about a sequel, the reported fees appear to be at breakeven levels, with a potential for profit. Should box office receipts align with results seen for films like Kholop or Gorko, the phenomenon would be striking; at present, much remains uncertain.
According to Bazhenov, the key question is how the sequel will perform over time. He suggested that building a stable audience would be a clear signal of lasting success for the project.
Milana Khametova later disclosed that by the end of May she had saved money over four years to help her mother buy a home in Moscow. The family purchased a three story mansion when she was thirteen. Since 2020 Khametova has been collaborating with Dava, who created a TikTok house and mentors young bloggers. Later, Khametova joined this project and signed an exclusive production contract with Dava. She frequently shares music and entertainment content on social media, and in 2021 she released a song titled Umka, for which the video has amassed over 90 million views.
Earlier reports mentioned the appearance of the film at a Moscow screening and a Contemporary Scientific Cinema festival.