news culture Lit by critics, Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom is a blockbuster
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We often believe that criticism goes hand in hand with the success or failure of a job, but we generally forget that all tastes are in nature. While the two famous Gauls and their friends have been in cinemas for a few days, we can’t say that the returns from the specialized press are the tenderest. With the exception of a few daily newspapers and magazines, opinions are sharp and not light-hearted. Clearly, Guillaume Canet’s film gives Obélix a hell of a slap in the face and there were fears viewers would not heed the French actor, producer, screenwriter and director’s suggestion. Rather the opposite happens…
Whether we like Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom or not, make no mistake: the film is a hit at the local box office. On the first day of broadcast, Guillaume Canet’s blockbuster (we’re talking about a budget of 65 million dollars) hits the cinemas with a bang. Abused and put on hold by the pandemic, the feature film could have been picked up by Pathé (the distributor) after sometimes harsh criticism, but we have to believe the excitement surrounding its arrival has worked. At the end of the first day of the exhibition, Asterix and Obelix: Middle Kingdom attracted 466,703 viewers – 275,658 of them in the preview – and thus achieved the best start for a French film in 10 years.
Announced 4 years ago, the film ranks behind Alain Chabat’s cult mission Cleopatra (629,148 admissions on the first day of cinema) and ahead of Asterix at the Olympic Games (464,724 admissions at the cinema).
Welcome to Ch’tis always on top
If the Middle Kingdom is ahead of Dany Boon’s film La Ch’tite Famille, it hasn’t knocked out the very popular Welcome to the Ch’tis by the same director from the top spot. On the evening of February 27, 2008, Dany Boon’s comedy recorded 558,559 admissions and remains the most-gained French film in France with 20.48 million admissions. With the school holidays approaching (or already underway depending on the region), there’s no doubt that Asterix and Obelix should have no trouble wowing the youngest viewers. From there, reaching 20 million viewers for Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis seems very difficult, but it’s clear that Canet’s film will remain in the nitty gritty.
Some will believe, rightly or wrongly, that this success is undeserved, but it’s worth remembering that all of Hollywood is facing a difficult dilemma right now, albeit at the risk of making some people cry out. Many of the local box office hits are Marvel movies, while works by masters like Spielberg or Del Toro are struggling to survive. Some observers have been sounding the alarm for years, but if cinema is to fight, it must reinvent itself.