Question asked by Christophe on February 3, 2023.
With 466,703 admissions for its first day of operation in France, Wednesday, Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Empire signed the best start for a French film of the last fifteen years. This figure was widely relayed in the media, but it was also inflated thanks to preview screenings, which took place all over France a few days before the official release of the film, and alone represent 275,658 admissions. . In reality, therefore, 191,045 people went to theaters on Wednesday to see the comedy by and with Guillaume Canet.
Canet dethrones Canet
However, this count is in no way a strategy intended to boost the popularity of the film. “Integrating AVPs [avant-premières] at start-up has been common practice for a long time”indicates to CheckNews Laurent Coudurier, who manages CBO Box-Office, the reference player in cinema figures in France. “In the case of’Asterix, the number of AVP is specified, which is a commendable step. This is indeed rarely the case.” since it concerns “only 40% of outings”he adds.
Therefore, it is impossible to compare the “outside previews” starts by being perfectly exhaustive. From the data transmitted to CheckNews by CBO, however, we know thatAsterix and Obelix: The Middle Empire was overtaken by several other productions. In April 2019, We’ll end up together recorded 228,406 non-AVP admissions on the day of its release (a total of 370,691 admissions at startup, including 142,285 in AVP). This film is none other than the sequel to Small Handkerchiefs, first part of the successful series also produced by Guillaume Canet. In January of the same year, the comedy What the hell have we done again? brought together 200,608 spectators for its first day on the big screens (362,209 admissions in total, for 161,601 in AVP).
Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Empire and Guillaume Canet are also far behind the 629,148 admissions of Mission Cleopatra, 203,511 in preview and 425,637 on the day of its release, at the end of January 2002.