Olivier Assayas’s L'Heure d'été (Summer Hours) has got off to a flying start in the USA and Japan.
Released May 15 by IFC, L’Heure d’été has already raked in $320,000 in the United States. It achieved the most successful per-screen opening score overall on its opening weekend, grossing $50,000 from 2 prints New York, thus ranking as the best French film opening this year. On the strength of these results, IFC Films has upped the number of prints in circulation to 27, with the film now also showing in twenty cities around the United States.
Olivier Assayas’s film should finish its United States run with around $1 million in receipts and 140,000 admissions, making it the director’s best performing film to date in this territory.
In Japan, L'Heure d'été was released May16 in a single arthouse theater in Tokyo, as is the case for the majority of foreign films in Japan aside from American blockbusters. The film will shortly be released for an extended run throughout Japan. Despite its modest release, the film proved a hit, with 4,000 spectators flocking to theaters in its opening week. A visit by Juliette Binoche to Tokyo as part of the film’s promotional campaign during the Unifrance-led 2009 French Film Festival in Japan no doubt boosted interest in the film and contributed to these excellent results.
L’Heure d’été has now been released in numerous foreign territories, where it has been well-received: 50,000 admissions were registered in Great Britain (released mid-July 2008), 53,000 admissions in Spain (released mid-November 2008), 55,000 admissions in Argentina (released late January 2009), and 43,000 admissions in Australia (released mid-April 2009).
