UniFrance Box Office Report: Houba! On the Trail of the Marsupilami off to a flying start in Belgium.
The Intouchables has now reached 17.5 million admissions outside France. The film delivered a lackluster launch in Russia this week (released by Cascade Film), attracting just 33,000 spectators in four days despite an ambitious 200-print release. In a market in which the first two weeks of a film's run are decisive, The Intouchables appears to be experiencing the cultural barrier for the first time. Released at the same time in Spain, it has scored well (released by A Contracorriente Films), pulling in an additional 140,000 admissions in its seventh week for a total of 1.9 million admissions. In German-speaking Switzerland (Frenetic), it has once again hit the top of the box office, with close to 800,000 admissions in its 22nd week. It has crossed 8 million admissions in Germany (Senator) after 17 weeks, while in Portugal (Lusomundo), it has topped 100,000 admissions after four weeks.
Houba! On the Trail of the Marsupilami has charmed more than 200,000 moviegoers in Belgium (Alternative) in just three weeks. This is an exceptional performance considering that only twenty French films have achieved such a score in this market since the early years of the decade. Alain Chabat's latest comedy has also triumphed in French-speaking Switzerland (Pathé Films), where 75,000 spectators have already flocked to see it, matching figures for The Artist (Praesens).
French cinema is certainly on a roll in Italy this year. The Intouchables (Medusa Film) stands out from the crowd, boasting 2.3 million admissions to date, but other films are also flying high. Sarah's Key by Gilles Paquet-Brenner (Lucky Red) continues its international success, attracting close to 130,000 spectators in Italy since its release in January. Little While Lies (Lucky Red) raked in 108,000 admissions in four weeks, basking in the success of The Intouchables and the now established star status of François Cluzet and Jean Dujardin. Where Are We going Now? (Eagle Pictures) is nearing the 90,000 admissions mark in Italy after 14 weeks. The launch of Premier homme, the latest offering by Gianni Amelio (01 Distribution), a French majority film, has not gone unnoticed in Italy either, registering 38,000 spectators on 79 prints.
All Together continues its highly successful run in Germany (Pandora Film). Now at the end of its fourth week, the film posts 191,000 admissions. These are fine results considering that only five French-language films topped 200,000 admissions in Germany in 2011.
Declaration of War has been released in Germany (Prokino), with so-so results at this stage, pulling in 10,000 admissions from 45 prints. Launched in Austria at the same time (Polyfilm), audience reaction is similar with 1,000 admissions registered from 8 prints. A film that created a sensation at last year's Cannes Critics' Week, Declaration of War is struggling to win over international audiences. Its international run opened in the second half of 2011, with a current total of 83,000 admissions registered abroad, including 22,000 in Spain (Golem), 12,000 in Belgium (Cinéart) and Brazil (Imovision), and 6,000 in the USA (Sundance Selects).
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TOP 20 - April 20-26
