27/12/2012 - Houba! On the Trail of the Marsupilami climbs up onto the annual podium. Audiard and Ozon shine on a list of mostly comedies.

With 5.29 million admissions, Alain Chabat’s Houba! On the Trail of the Marsupilami [+see also:
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film profile] (photo) has made it to best French film at the annual box office, and is third overall on the 2012 podium after British co-production Skyfall (over 6.6 million admissions) and American animation film Ice Age 4 (6.58 million admissions). Two other French productions feature among the top 10: Laurent Tirard’s Asterix and Obelix: God Save Britannia [+see also:
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film profile] (3.7 millions) in eighth place, and Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte’s Le Prénom (3.3 million) in tenth place.

They are followed by Olivier Megaton’s English-language thriller Taken 2 [+see also:
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making of
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film profile] (2.7 millions), and collage film The Players [+see also:
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film profile] (2.3 million). Rust & Bone [+see also:
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interview: Jacques Audiard
interview: Jacques Audiard
film profile] (1.9 million), Jacques Audiard’s Cannes contender and recent Golden Globe double-nominee (for best film in a foreign language and best actress) is seventh bestselling French title in French cinemas this year. 

Next come two comedies, James Huth’s Un bonheur n’arrive jamais seul [+see also:
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film profile] (1.8 million) as well as Frédéric Forestier and Thomas Langmann’s Stars 80 [+see also:
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film profile] (1.8 million), followed by Florent Emilio Siri’s biopic My Way [+see also:
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On the list of French films that attracted over a million viewers this year, there are also three more comedies: Pascal Chaumeil’s Un plan parfait [+see also:
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film profile] (1.2 million), Philippe de Chauveron’s Les vacances de Ducobu [+see also:
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film profile] (1.05 million), and Franck Gastambide’s off-the-wall comedy Porn in the Hood (1.015 million). François Ozon’s In the House [+see also:
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Other films that recorded good results include Christian Vincent’s Haute Cuisine [+see also:
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film profile] (986,075), Noémie Lvovsky’s Camille Rewinds [+see also:
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film profile] (875,000) and Régis Roinsard’s Populaire (that has already made 910,000 admissions this December).

Finally, the films of two European masters stand out: English director Ken Loach’s The Angels’ Share [+see also:
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interview: Ken Loach
film profile] (748,933 admissions) and Austrian director Michael Haneke’s Palme d’Or winner Love [+see also:
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interview: Michael Haneke
film profile] (over 615,000 cinema-goers).

(Translated from French)