UniFrance Box Office Report: The Intouchables hits theaters in the UK...
The Intouchables has registered a low key start in the UK, after its first weekend on the screens. The film's distributor, Entertainment Film Distributors, chose to start its run with a low 19-print release. This strategy appears to be paying off as the film clocked up over 18,000 admissions and boasts the weekend's best per-print average, taking £5,754 per print. This is a cautious approach, appropriate for a market in which French comedies are few and far between in theaters. Moreover, the few genre films to have registered more than 100,000 admissions since the beginning of the decade cannot be considered to represent the French comedy genre: Potiche (Studiocanal Ltd. – 155,000 prints), The Chorus (Pathé Entertainment - 146,000 admissions), and Heartbreaker (Revolver Entertainment – 134,000 admissions). For the record, Welcome to the Sticks ended its run with 26,000 admissions.
In Mexico (Gussi), The Intouchables has scored the third best performance for a French-language film since the beginning of the decade: boosted by an increasing number of prints , there are currently 155 prints in circulation, totaling over 520,000 admissions after three weeks. Now in its fourth week in Japan, the film by the Nakache/Tolédano duo has picked up three notches at the box office, now ranking in 6th place with an additional 150,000 spectators to its credit (+21% over the last week), on 77 prints. The Intouchables posts a running total of 500,000 admissions in Japan. By next week, the film should cross the 25 million admissions mark abroad.
Love has got off to a flying start in German-speaking European markets. It attracted 46,000 German moviegoers (X-Verleih) in 4 days, with 85 prints released. It also pulled in 9,000 admissions in 3 days in Austria (Filmladen), with 33 prints released. Michael Haneke's previous Palme d’Or winner, The White Ribbon, registered 1.7 million admissions abroad (outside Germany), including notable scores in English-speaking countries, with the USA (Sony Pictures) tallying 302,000 admissions and the UK (Artificial Eye), 127,000 admissions. The film was also well-received in Latin American markets, such as Brazil (Imovision – 83,000 admissions), Argentina (Zeta Films - 44,000 admissions), and Mexico (Canana – 32,000 admissions).
Happiness Never Comes Alone has made an unimpressive opening in Germany (Alamode), with just 26,000 spectators registered in 4 days from 103 prints. The French romantic comedy is a genre that has struggled to attract German audiences in recent years. This is demonstrated by the results of Delicacy (Concorde – 58,000 entrées), Love Lasts Three Years (Prokino - 34,000 admissions), and Beautiful Lies (Capelight Pictures – 44,000 admissions), all released in 2012. The release of this film genre is often limited to around 60 prints. The 2011 release of Heartbreaker (Universum Film), which was offered a generous release of 314 prints, finished up with over 230,000 prints in Germany.
Happiness Never Comes Alone currently totals close to 350,000 admissions outside France, bolstered by fine performances in Belgium (Alternative) and Russia (Cascade), where it charmed some 100,000 moviegoers.
