Culture news After The Three Musketeers in 2023, French cinema is dusting off another literary legend. A new failure in perspective?
It looks like Pathé has decided to adapt all the literary classics. This time, it’s the turn of Edmond Dantès.
On April 5, 2023, The Three Musketeers: D’artagnan was released, the first episode of a trilogy based on the novel by Alexandre Dumas. The film was an immediate success, recording more than 3 million admissions in France and 5 million if we count foreign countries.. But if these figures are impressive, they only represent a box office of 32 million euros. And faced with the 36 million euros budget, well, it doesn’t work. Although the film teams reduced production costs for the second opus as much as possible by shooting the two episodes at the same time, The Three Musketeers: Milady and its 2.5 million admissions were unable to reverse the trend. So when we know that a new literary classic is coming out in theaters soon, we have every right to worry. The Count of Monte Cristo must succeed.
A forgotten story?
Although it is considered a must-have in French literature, the count of Monte Cristo is a bit out of fashion. The younger generation knows very little about its history, so a short summary is in order. The Count of Monte Cristo therefore follows the young Edmond Dantès, only 19 years old at the start of the story. When he arrived in Marseille to get engaged to Catalan Mercédès, he was betrayed by his friends and was thrown in prison for more than 14 years. After his escape and the acquisition of the treasure of the island of Montecristo, Edmond decides to take revenge on those who accused him. In short, one of revenge story the most famous in the world, which is seeing its 24th film adaptation this year.
A formula that repeats itself
With this film, Pathé has definitely found his new vein, but it’s not certain that it will pay off. After producing the two episodes of Three Musketeers released in 2023, the French company is taking care of The Count of Monte Cristo scheduled for June 28, 2024 and keeping the same directors. With an even larger budget than its predecessors (43 million euros), this new adaptation wants to attract even more audiences. Real settings even more faithful to the original work, daring stunts and a fine cast : in the style of The Three Musketeers which had François Civil in the lead, The Count of Monte Cristo offers Pierre Niney as a key character. The two actors are definitely shaping up to be the next generation of French cinema.