With 466,703 admissions for its first day of operation (including previews), “Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom” is off to the best start of the past ten years. He is ahead of “Maurice the Fabulous Cat” and “Knock at the Cabin”.
1 – Asterix & Obelix – The Middle Empire: 466,703 admissions (including 275,658 in AVP)
2 – Maurice the fabulous cat: 32,403 entries (including 22,060 in AVP)
3 – Knock at the Cabin: 12,434 admissions
4 – Dounia and the Princess of Aleppo: 8,288 admissions (including 6,184 in AVP)
5 – The Mountain: 7,536 admissions (including 4,228 in AVP)
6 – The worst neighbor in the world: 6,332 entries (including 585 in AVP)
7 – Aftersun: 5,804 admissions (including 1,327 in AVP)
8 – Me, when I am reincarnated as a slime: 5,776 entries (including 1,032 in AVP)
9 – A little brother: 2,864 entries (including 984 in AVP)
10 – Tel Aviv / Beirut: 1,454 entries (including 377 in AVP)
11 – Le Piège de Huda: 1,258 entries (including 983 in AVP)
12 – Amore Mio: 1,572 admissions (including 1,271 in AVP)
13 – Masters: 838 entries (including 625 in AVP)
14 – Provincial boys: 211 entries
15 – Mrs. Muir’s Adventure (Reprise) : 52 entries
16 – Ghost Therapy: 29 entries
17 – Piro Piro: 19 entries
18 – Only pirates: 12 entries
19 – Right in the eye: 10 entries
Getafix’s magic potion gave them wings to take off to the top of the box office. But not only. With 466,703 admissions for its first day of operation in France (including previews), Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Empire marks the best start for a French film since Welcome to the Ch’tis in 2008.
And the second for a film in the saga, just ahead of Asterix at the Olympic Games (464,724 spectators in 2008) but far behind the 629,148 of Mission Cleopatra, released at the same time of the year in 2002. When we know that two films finished their respective races with 6,818,093 and 14,559,509 admissions, Guillaume Canet can look to the future with serenity, if the holidays allow his opus to confirm its dazzling start.
The arrival of Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, could be likely to slow down the two Gauls on February 15, even if the audience for the new Marvel will be more teenagers than families, as may be the one targeted by The Middle Kingdom. The latter is ahead of the animated film Maurice the Fabulous Cat as well as Knock at the Cabin.
On Wednesday alone, M. Night Shyamalan’s new opus certainly does better than the animated film that precedes it, having not benefited from previews. But it offers the filmmaker the second worst start to his career in France, just ahead of Old, released in the summer of 2021 on the day the vaccine pass was introduced in theaters.
The holidays may allow him to save the furniture in the long term, but it is an understatement to say that it is a disappointing start given the status of its author and his ability to intrigue, and therefore attract spectators in theaters, with each of his projects.
Having passed through Cannes, where they were both rewarded (at the Quinzaine des Réalisateurs for the first, at the Semaine de la Critique for the second), La Montagne and Aftersun had an encouraging start on a limited number of prints (around a hundred ), with the two best averages per screen of this Wednesday, February 1st.
Twice awarded at the Gérardmer Festival, a few days before its release, The Mountain even offers itself the luxury of beating Tom Hanks and his role as the Worst Neighbor in the World… which is also his worst start since Dans l’ombre de Mary, released in 2014.
Figures: CBO Box Office