UniFrance Box Office Report: Taken 2 debuts at the top of the charts.
Behind one hit performance lurks another! We all thought that The Intouchables was, well, untouchable, but Taken 2 may well outshine the film by Nakache and Toledano and reach new heights at the international box office.
Taken 2 was released in South Korea (by 20th Century Fox) one week earlier than the rest of the world, with its opening results tripling those of the first installment. Released in 2008, Taken finished its run in South Korea with 2.4 million admissions (released by Studio 2.0), ranking as the film's second best performance abroad after the USA (20th Century Fox), where it currently holds the record for the highest admissions score ever achieved by a French film (20.7 million tickets sold). The international release of Taken 2 from October 3 through 12 will undoubtedly make a significant impact on French films' international results in 2012. Until now, international figures have been dominated by French-language productions, which account for 80% of admissions abroad to date. Taken 2 could well outscore the first episode, which, with 31.8 million admissions registered around the world, is currently the most successful French film export since the beginning of the decade.
The Intouchables has attracted 83,000 spectators after its first complete week on British screens (Entertainment Film Distributors). The number of prints released was raised from 19 to 153, bringing in 65,000 additional admissions. This is a fine performance which should pick up over the coming weeks, bolstered by a significant investment in promotion and advertising and enthusiastic word-of-mouth. The film already boasts the 2nd best performance for a French-language film in the UK in 2012, behind A Monster in Paris (E1 Entertainement), which registered 570,000 admissions.
In Japan (Gaga), results for The Intouchables dropped back by 12%, with an additional 132,000 spectators recorded from 78 prints released. It has nonetheless held tight in 6th place at the box office after its 5th weekend. With 637,000 tickets sold in Japan, the film has scored the 6th best performance for a French-language film in this market since 2000.
In Latin America, the film continues its successful run, notably in Brazil (California Filmes – 550,000 admissions in 5 weeks) and Colombia (Cine Colombia), where it has pulled in 300,000 admissions and earned the title of the most successful French film (shot in any language) ever registered by uniFrance Films.
The Intouchables currently posts a running total of 25.4 million admissions outside France.
Holy Motors has got off to a good start in the UK (Artificial Eye), charming more than 11,000 spectators on a 23-print release, which is more than double the admissions score achieved by Pola X (Artificial Eye) in 2000. These initial results are higher than those of the majority of French auteur films released so far in the UK in 2012, such as The Source (Picturehouse – 11,000 admissions on a maximum of 14 prints), Poliss (Artificial Eye – 10,000 admissions on a maximum of 14 prints), House of Pleasure (The Works – 4,000 admissions on a maximum of 5 prints), and Angèle et Tony (Peccadillo Pictures - 2,000 admissions on a maximum of 4 prints).
Elsewhere in Europe, Holy Motors has registered 23,000 admissions in Germany (Arsenal Filmverleih), 3,000 in Austria (Stadtkino), 5,000 in Belgium (Cinéart), and 2,000 in French-speaking Switzerland (Mont-Blanc).
