2009 Box Office Review - France - Part 3
Posted by Ethan on Friday, April 30, 2010 in 2009 Global Box Office • Europe • (0) Comments • Permalink •
LOCAL PRODUCT
Last year’s unparalleled success of French comedies “Welcome to the Sticks” and the latest installment of long-running franchise “Asterix at the Olympic Games” (7 million admissions) are difficult to match though 20 domestic titles broke the 1 million admission mark this year.
Comedy is definitely the most sought after genre when doing local production and this year is no exception. Not the huge hits of the aforementioned titles but this year’s 1950’s comic adaptation “Le Petit Nicolas,” Luc Besson’s comedy “Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard” and Pathe’s “LOL: Laughing Out Loud” all landed in the top ten best performers for the year and numbers 1-3 of the domestic releases. “LOL’s” success and six weeks at the top of the box office charts once again shows Sophie Marceau's power to attract audiences.
Studio Canal’s drama “Coco Before Chanel” (3 million admissions) was the next best performer of the domestic titles and is the story of Chanel, who begins her life as a headstrong orphan to become the legendary couturier that embodied the modern woman. It is based on the 2005 book "L'irreguliere, ou mon itineraire Chanel" written by Edmonde Charles-Roux. At number 11 for the year overall, this is the only locally produced title in the top 20 that doesn’t have comedy at its core.
Gaumont’s parody “OSS 117:Rio Ne Repond Plus” directed by Michel Hazanavicius earned 2.5 million admissions to become the fifth best performing domestic title and was a sequel to "OSS 117: Le Caire--Nid d'Espions" (2006). “OSS 117: Rio” and “Lucky Luke” both star Jean Dujardin.
Comedic “Neuilly Sa Mere!” is about a boy who is uprooted from his familiar surroundings in Chalon-sur-Saône to live with his aunt, uncle and cousin and tries to fit in while being the new kid in town.
Relying on the star power of “Welcome to the Sticks” Dany Boon, “De L’autre Cote du lit” earned 1.8 million admissions, his performance in “Le Code a Change” took 1.6 million admissions and “Micmacs” had 1.3 million tickets sold. Kad Merad, the other star of “Welcome to the Sticks” took top billing in both “Safari” which earned 1.9 million admissions and “RTT” with took 1 million admissions.
Historically, France’s biggest local successes are released in the first part of the year though “Le Petit Nicolas” was released in September and “Arthur” in December. France continues to have one of the highest percentages’ of local originated product in the world.
LOOKING FORWARD
Piracy is an on-going, hotly debated topic throughout the world and although it’s not as large a problem in France as it is in some other European territories like the UK, the discussion here had a tremendous impact on the industry this year. Stemming from conversations about illegal downloading, France has tightened its windows for DVD and VOD (video on demand) releases to four months after initial theatrical release. Previously the theatrical to sell-through video/DVD window was set at six-months and PPV/VOD waited 8 months to release.
Exhibitors here and in most territories of the world have been adamant about keeping releasing windows as long as possible, but as the film business contracts globally and consumers are able to acquire or see the product in so many alternative ways, the industry has been forced to adapt. In fact France’s new law provides that it will even be possible to reduce this period to three months for features "that have garnered less than 200 admissions by their fourth week on release in theaters".
The immediate impact of the change in releasing windows was seen most by the home entertainment industry, which in France rose almost 17% this year, reversing the 19% drop-off that’s taken place over the last five years. Due to this legislation, this year’s “Harry Potter” and local hit “Neuilly Sa Mere!” were available to buy on DVD and Blu-ray (BD) before Christmas and demonstrated the first measurable effects of the new legislation. The upswing in admissions this year as well as the increased home entertainment business leads one to believe that these shorter windows won’t cannibalize the cinema going revenues though not until Q2 2010 will there be enough data to really start drawing conclusions.
Exhibitors did get a reprieve by a “three strikes” law whereby illegal downloaders who are caught three times will be disconnected from the Internet. This part of the law as of this writing has yet to take full effect though historically this kind of punitive approach in other industries like forensics has yet to prove to be a deterrent.
Upcoming domestic films include Universal’s “Gainsbourg,” a biopic of the legendary musician and French icon starring Eric Elmosnino, with Laetitia Casta as Brigitte Bardot.
Comic actor Jose Garcia stars as a man forced to pose as his twin brother in “Le Mac” from ARP. Garcia has starred in “Asterix At The Olympic Games,” “Le Boulet” and the “La Vérité Si Je Mens”.
Gaumont’s “The Round-Up” is a WW II drama that tells the true story of the complicity of some of the French population during the German Occupation, as seen through the eyes of a 10-year-old boy. It stars Jean Reno, Melanie Laurent and Raphaelle Agogué.
Luc Besson’s lavish $37 million adaptation of Jacques Tardi’s popular comic-book series “The Extraordinary Adventures Of Adele Blanc-Sec” comes from EuropaCorp about an investigative novelist uncovering crime in early 20th century Paris.
Ellen Pittleman, http://hybridentus.com, is a veteran studio executive based in Los Angeles. Most recently, she served as SVP, International Co-Productions and Worldwide Acquisitions for Paramount Pictures. She also launched the DVD Premiere group there, with films including Jonathan Demme’s “Neil Young: Heart of Gold” and the sequel to the $100MM+ “Save the Last Dance.” Working from a marketing and distribution perspective, she consults on strategic planning, deal negotiation, acquisitions, film library valuation and feature development with clients from Rio to London to Beijing. She’s also currently developing a feature on George Foreman’s comeback years, among other projects.