27/02/2008

Pathé Distribution are launching the comedy Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis [+see also:
trailer
film profile] on a very generous 788 screens in French theatres today, .

The second feature directed by actor Dany Boon is already shaping up to be a phenomenal success at the box office. Released last week in avant-premiere on 64 screens in the North of France, the film garnered 455,000 admissions in five days.

Starring the director (who first came to attention in Merry Christmas [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Christian Carion
interview: Christophe Rossignon
film profile] and My Best Friend [+see also:
trailer
film profile]) and Kad Merad (2007 Cesar for Best Supporting Actor for Don’t Worry, I’m Fine [+see also:
trailer
film profile]), the cast also includes Zoé Félix (Frenchmen [+see also:
trailer
film profile]).

The film retraces the misadventures of a postal worker who is transferred as punishment from the South of France to a little town in the North. He discovers the unusual customs of the local population, the “Ch'tis”, their dialect and their warm hospitality as embodied by Boon. Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis plays on clichés in order to enhance the comic aspects of the film.

Produced by Pathé Renn and Hirsch (who reveal their eclectic taste after the rich crop of Cesar awards for The Secret of the Grain [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hafsia Herzi
film profile]) for a budget of €10.9m, the film received €2.4m in pre-sales and co-production support from TF1 Films Productions, as well as backing from the CRRAV.

Also hitting screens is French/US thriller Taken [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Pierre Morel, starring UK actor Liam Neeson and Dutch actress Famke Janssen. The film was co-written by Luc Besson and produced by EuropaCorp, who are releasing it on 350 screens.

Other releases include Laetitia Masson’s Guilty [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Rezo Films – 28 screens) which had its premiere screening in the Panorama section at the Berlinale (see special report).

Bac Films are launching on 33 screens Nightwatching [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by UK director Peter Greenaway, which was unveiled in competition at the latest Venice Film Festival (see news).

Finally, Colifilms Diffusion are launching a five-print run of the documentary Algérie, histoires à ne pas dire... (“Algeria, Unspeakable Stories…”) by Jean-Pierre Lledo; and Solaris Distribution are releasing on two screens French/Korean co-production Desert Dream [+see also:
trailer
film profile].

All these titles will be released alongside a Philippine feature and three new US films, including Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood (Silver Bear for Best Director at Berlin) starring Oscar-winner Daniel Day-Lewis.

At the box office, Paris [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Cédric Klapisch (see interview) has got off to a good start, drawing 611,000 viewers in five days (Mars Distribution).

Asterix at the Olympic Games [+see also:
trailer
film profile] continues to enjoy success, having garnered almost 6m admissions (Pathé Distribution); and Isabelle Mergault’s comedy A Widow At Last [+see also:
trailer
film profile] has triumphed at the box office, exceeding 2m admissions after six weeks of exhibition (distribution Gaumont).

(Translated from French)