Yves Saint Laurent's international career has got off to a strong start in French-language markets.
Yves Saint Laurent by Jalil Lespert jumped to 6th place at the Belgian box office (released by E1 Entertainment) in its opening week, registering close to 22,000 admissions from 22 prints. While it should rapidly reach 50,000 admissions, crossing the 100,000 admissions mark will be a far greater challenge. Its launch in French-speaking Switzerland (Pathé Films AG) is even more encouraging, where it debuted at number 2, tallying 9,000 admissions. It may be interesting here to compare this film's international career with that of Coco Before Chanel (56 million admissions outside France). While results for the biopic by Anne Fontaine were respectable in French-language European markets, garnering 76,000 admissions in Belgium (Kinepolis) and 25,000 in French-speaking Switzerland (Warner Bros.), its performance was particularly strong in English-language markets, where it amassed 873,000 admissions in the USA/English-speaking Canada (Sony), 515,000 in the UK (Studiocanal Ltd, formerly Optimum Releasing), and 253,000 in Australia (Village Roadshow). Asian markets also showed enthusiasm for Coco Before Chanel and its portrayal of the fashion icon, with 630,000 admissions registered in Japan (Warner Bros.), 207,000 in South Korea (TU Media), 86,000 in Hong Kong (Lark Films), and 50,000 in Taiwan (CMC Magnetics). Even if the cast of Yves Saint Laurent does not feature international stars like Audrey Tautou, it has been sold widely and there is little doubt that its high profile subject will attract the interest of other international markets.
After five weeks in theaters in the USA and English-speaking Canada, Sony has expanded the release of The Past from 3 prints to 30, with the film currently raking in over $100,000 each week. Now with a total of $422,000 in the till since its launch (around 50,000 admissions), hopes are high that it will reach the million dollar mark before the end of its North American run. Already released in around 15 countries in 2013, where it has clocked up over 320,000 admissions, The Past is now awaiting release in many major markets in 2014, including Germany (Camino), Russia (WDSSPR), the UK (Artificial Eye), Brazil (California Filmes), Japan (Doma Inc.), and Australia (Madman).
Belle and Sébastien continues light up the box office in Belgium (Belga Films), with over 9,000 admissions registered in its fifth week. It looks set to top 150,000 admissions in the next fortnight, thus outscoring the performance of The Volcano (Alternative, 145,000 admissions), which was the highest scoring French film in Belgium in 2013. Belle and Sébastien currently posts a running total of 258,000 admissions in international theaters.
Matthieu Thibaudault (uniFrance films)
