Released October 13 by Kinowelt Filmverleih, "The Emperor's Journey" (distributed in the USA as "March of the Penguins") has jumped to number 2 at the German box office, with 160,000 admissions registered on its opening weekend.
Bolstered by excellent results in the United States – the best performing French film ever, taking $75 million – and a high-powered promotional campaign, the film by Luc Jacquet has lost no time in charming German audiences.
On its opening weekend "The Emperor's Journey" attracted 159,423 German spectators and raked in $1 million in ticket sales, thus ranking in 2nd place at the national box office. It was, nonetheless, up against stiff competition, with the number 1 film, "Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit" released on around 700 prints the same day. The documentary by Luc Jacquet, however, showing on 375 screens, boasted an equivalent per-print average admissions rate.
This style of documentary has traditionally been well-received in Germany, as shown by results for films such as "The Travelling Birds" aka "Winged Migration" (820,000 admissions, released by Kinowelt) and Microcosmos (560,000 admissions, released by Pandora).
"The Emperor's Journey" looks certain to outscore these titles, and to rapidly join the top 10 French films released in Germany in the past ten years.
