Released in the United States June 24 on 4 prints, “The Emperor’s Journey” is enjoying remarkable success.
With box office receipts totaling $137,492 in its opening week, representing an average of $34,373 per screen, the film’s distributor Warner Independent Pictures soon upped the number of prints released. In its second week, this documentary by Luc Jacquet was showing on 20 screens, with the number of theatres on a constant increase, to reach 64 screens in week 3, 132 screens in week 4 and 695 screens in week 5!
This is a fine debut for a French documentary, with the film capturing 40% of theatrical admissions in the independent theatre circuit on the July 17 weekend. The film has attracted over 660,000 spectators to date, with box office receipts reaching $4,382,340. This performance far surpasses that of “To Be and To Have,” which, posting a total of 130,000 spectators, was nonetheless the documentary smash hit of 2003!
It is also worth mentioning that the rights to “The Emperor’s Journey” were acquired by Warner Independent Pictures Inc. and National Geographic Feature Films during the Sundance Film Festival, at which the film was presented in the presence of its director, Luc Jacquet. It has since been showered with praise by the American media.
Hélène Conand – Head of Communication, France
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