Animation is celebrating at the French box office: while “The Boy and the Heron” will soon become Hayao Miyazaki’s biggest success in France, the Christmas Disney “Wish” has taken control of the ranking ahead of “Napoleon”.
Box office France from November 29 to December 5, 2023
1 – Wish – Asha and the lucky star: 628,897 entries (New)
2 – Napoleon: 381,238 entries (cumulative: 1,145,657)
3 – La Tresse: 306,073 entries (New)
4 – Hunger Games: 252,869 entries (cumulative: 1,236,335)
5 – The Time to Love: 118,783 entries (New)
6 – Perfect Days: 103,232 entries (New)
7 – The Boy and the Heron: 79,338 entries (cumulative: 1,448,366)
8 – Thanksgiving: 75,871 entries (New)
9 – Abbé Pierre…: 71,823 entries (cumulative: 738,318)
10 – The Marvels: 63,995 entries (cumulative: 724,643)
To remember
A few weeks before Christmas, animation is (a little) celebrating at the French box office. Released on November 29, Wish – Asha and the lucky star logically took the lead in the ranking, bringing together 628,897 spectators, including previews. Which is certainly better than Encanto, released in a more complicated context for cinemas.
But we are far from the figures for Frozen (862,291 admissions in 2013) and its sequel (2,137,267 in 2019), other Christmas Disney releases in French cinemas. Pixar, however, proved it this summer, with Elementary: the scores of animated films are made over time, and the holidays will perhaps allow Wish to refuel. And to draw clearer conclusions in January.
At the same time, Hayao Miyazaki is getting a little closer to his French record, which should be beaten in the coming days: The Boy and the Heron (1,448,366 entries to date) is only a stone’s throw from Ponyo on the cliff (1,464,473), which resisted for more than a month before giving up its throne.
As Napoleon, which only remained box office leader for a short week and should not beat Ridley Scott’s record, still held by Gladiator with its 4,733,174 torn tickets. But this biopic carried by Joaquin Phoenix and Vanessa Kirby becomes his thirteenth millionaire opus in France. And it could well surpass the scores of American Gangster, Kingdom of Heaven and Alien Covenant, even that of Exodus, in the days to come.
Of the ten films in this weekly ranking, in which Hunger Games also crossed the million mark, five are new releases. And, besides Wish, it’s The braid who performs best in the game. With the aura of the book from which it is inspired, Laetitia Colombani’s feature film climbs onto the third step of the podium, well ahead of Time to love And Perfect Days. But the latter, rewarded with the Male Actor Prize at Cannes 2023, offers the second best average per copy of the week.
Released the same day in our theaters, last November 8, Abbot stone And The Marvels continue to experience similar fates: both lost 41% of their entries compared to last week and it now seems impossible to see them cross the million mark, even though they seemed destined to do so given their respective potential.
Figures: CBO – Box-Office