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BOX OFFICE France

Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis reaches 8.2m admissions

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The tidal wave of success continues to roll for Dany Boon’s comedy Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis (see news), which has already drawn 8.2 million viewers in 12 days of release across France (following the first week in avant-premiere in the North).

Currently distributed on 840 screens by Pathé, the film – starring the director and Kad Merad - has already grossed €48.2m at the box office in France, a handsome sum to be compared with its original €10.9m budget.

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Having set a new record for a first week of exhibition with over 4.45 million admissions (the previous record-holder was Friends Forever [+see also:
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with 3.9m and a final score of 10.36m in 2006), Bienvenue… garnered 3.2m more admissions between Wednesday March 5 and Sunday March 9.

Produced by Pathé Renn and Hirsch with financial backing from TF1 Films Productions and the CRRAV, the feature now has its sights set on achieving the same success as the biggest domestic hits in the history of the French box office: The Visitors (13.78m admissions in 1993), Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra (14.37m in 2002) and Don’t Look Now – We’re Being Shot At (17.27m in 1968).

The film also performed remarkably well in French-speaking Belgium with 125,000 admissions in the first week of exhibition on 25 screens (distribution Alternative Film).

In the wake of this phenomenal success, domestic titles currently dominate in French theatres. Cédric Klapisch’s Paris [+see also:
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has accumulated 1.32m admissions in the three weeks since its release (Mars Distribution), Asterix at the Olympic Games [+see also:
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has attracted 6.64m viewers in six weeks (Pathé Distribution) and Pierre Morel’s Taken [+see also:
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has drawn 455,000 viewers in 12 days (produced and distributed by EuropaCorp).

Meanwhile, Jean-Paul Salomé’s Female Agents [+see also:
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has so far garnered 236,000 admissions (TFM Distribution) and Olivier AssayasSummer Hours [+see also:
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has attracted 120,000 cinemagoers (MK2 Diffusion).

Among the top eight box office hits of the week, only the US production National Treasure: Book of Secrets takes fifth place in the middle of this French wave.

Lastly, European title The Orphanage [+see also:
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by Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona (Wild Bunch Distribution - 134 screens) has accumulated 135,000 admissions in the five days since its release.

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(Translated from French)

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