UniFrance Films box office report: Vive la France launches its attack on Europe
Vive la France has kicked off its international run with a successful debut in French-language markets. After its opening week in Belgium (including preview screenings), it registered 32,000 admissions, a highly encouraging performance that makes a change from the monotony of results for French films since the start to 2013. In French-speaking Switzerland (Praesens Film), Vive la France pulled in just under 4,000 admissions in its opening week on 11 prints, sitting at 7th place at the box office.
This is a good score that should enable the film to outstrip the attendance figures of its director Michaël Youn's previous feature, Fatal (JMH Distributions), which attracted 9,300 spectators in French-speaking Switzerland in 2010. Vive le France has been sold in a wide range of territories around the world (such as Latin America, Australia, Turkey), including Asia, where very few French comedies gain theatrical release (South Korea, Hong Kong, and Indonesia).
Asterix and Obelix: God Save Britannia has hit the top spot at the box office in Quebec (Les Films Séville). It registered 46,000 admissions in its opening week, a promising start for a film that has so far registered a number of disappointing performances abroad. In Quebec, it is already set to outshine the admissions score of its predecessor, the third installment of the series, Asterix at the Olympic Games (Alliance), which ended its run with 141,000 admissions in 2008. This was considered a disappointing performance at the time, compared with the success of the first two episodes, Asterix and Obelix versus Caesar (Christal Films, 306,000 admissions 1999) and Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra, the latter of which is the most successful French film of all time in Quebec according to uniFrance Films (637,000 spectators).
The gamble clearly paid off for the film's distributor Les Films Séville, who chose to release it in winter on the weekend preceding the school vacation, in contrast with the first three films, which were released in June and July. The film's effect was amplified by a a string of interviews with Laurent Tirard, Vincent Lacoste, Valérie Lemercier, and the Quebec comedian Charlotte Le Bon held with local journalists as part of the Rendez-vous with French Cinema event organized by uniFrance Films in January. Asterix and Obelix: God Save Britannia is currently credited with close to 3.6 million admissions in international theaters.
Love took an additional $968,000 in the USA/English-speaking Canada (Sony Classics) in the week following the Oscars ceremony. This figure is 20% lower than the previous week even though the number of prints was upped by 22 (from 306 to 328 prints). With now a total of $5.4 million to its credit (718,000 admissions), Love will have its distribution cut back next week, although it could well end its run with $7.5 million in the till and come close to hitting the million admissions mark. In other markets, Love has had a successful debut in Argentina (CDI Films), tallying 28,000 admissions after just 2 weeks. It now posts a running total of just under 2.6 million admissions outside France.
