With an ambitious release of 136 prints, the Asterix at the Olympic Games attracted 138,949 spectators on its opening weekend, which is 40,000 more tickets sold than Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra’s opening weekend. On the strength of this winning debut, Asterix at the Olympic Games has jumped to the top of the Polish box office. Also released by SPI International Polska, Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra by Alain Chabat hit the screens on 70 prints July 19, 2002, and finished its run with 680,000 admissions to its credit.
The new Asterix saga’s opening weekend is the best ever achieved by the Polish affiliate of the transnational SPI International, which is based in the USA and has a foothold in four central European countries (Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia). This production and distribution company (which also includes VOD and TV broadcasting operations through the Kino Polska channel acquired last year) is one of this territory’s most active buyers of French films.
This film was not the only French title to reach Polish screens that day, with Persepolis released by Gutek Films on 15 prints.