Adding to the outstanding success of Tell No One in the USA ($4.5 million since its release early July), other French titles launched this summer have also turned up trumps.
Admissions in the United States to Catherine Breillat’s film Une Vieille Maîtresse (also released as The Last Mistress and An Old Mistress) have outscored those in France, with 125,000 spectators registered for this latest offering by a director who is highly popular with American audiences.
Meanwhile, Michael Haneke’s remake Funny Games U.S. (aka Funny Games) has enjoyed a successful release in southern European countries, scoring 100,000 admissions in Spain, 230,000 in Italy, and 40,000 in Portugal since early July.
In Spain, Le Vilain petit canard et moi (The Ugly Duckling and Me!) has won the hearts of 120,000 young (and young at heart) moviegoers.
2008 has so far proved an excellent year for French animated films in Spain, after the fine performance by Franklin et le trésor du lac (also released as Franklin and Granny's Secret and
Franklin and the Turtle Lake Treasure), which has registered 85,000 admissions.
Bolstered by triumphant springtime results in Europe (20 million admissions in France, 1.1 million in Belgium – an all-time high for a French film, and 500,000 in Switzerland), Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (Welcome to the Sticks) has set out to conquer Quebec audiences, racking up 150,000 admissions since July 25, in addition to the 55,000 admissions registered in Poland since early June.
Still in Poland, Chasseurs de Dragons (Dragon Hunters) tallied 70,000 admissions in the last three weeks of August.
Paris has done Cédric Klapisch proud in Germany, with close to 200,000 spectators recorded after five weeks on the screens. The film also attracted 20,000 spectators in Great Britain, an increasingly difficult market for French films to penetrate.
Two other French titles have made their mark in Germany: 99 Francs has posted 80,000 spectators since July 31 and Un baiser s’il vous plaît (Shall We Kiss?), which, despite a less ambitious release, has pulled in 25,000 spectators since August 7.
Astérix aux jeux olympiques (Asterix at the Olympic Games) continues its world tour, now scoring 140,000 admissions in Quebec. Thanks to these results, the film has now crossed the 6 million admissions mark on the international circuit.
Deux jours à tuer (Love Me No More) by Jean Becker has drawn crowds in Spain (55,000 admissions since August 1) and Montreal-Quebec (26,000 admissions since July 11).
Finally, Taken can be crowned as the biggest success story at the close of this summer season, credited with 422,000 admissions in Spain since August 8, 315,000 in Australia, 110,000 in Italy, and 50,000 in Poland since August 15. If we add to this the fine results earned by this Luc Besson production in Asia in the spring, the film now tops 4 million spectators registered in just a dozen territories. Taken looks set to dominate the charts for the most successful French films of 2008.
