23/08/2005

48,6 million dollars of receipts accumulated in nine weeks of exhibition: La Marche de l'Empereur [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (March of the Penguins) by Frenchman Luc Jacquet continues its exceptional adventure at the American box-office. With 6,7 million dollars achieved between the 19th and 21st of August, the animal documentary produced by Bonne Pioche made sixth place at the week-end and registered only a 2 % drop in admissions compared to the week before. A score which allowed it to leave far behind in its wake Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (34 million dollars in the USA in 2001-2002) and now has its sights set on the 66 million dollars achieved in 1997 by The Fifth Element from Luc Besson, best French film in the history of the US box-office.

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As mentioned by Cineuropa on the 15th of July, the word-of-mouth impact achieved by March of the Penguins on a US film market going through a difficult summer, merited a spectacular increase in the number of prints from distributor Warner Independent. Starting in 21st of June with 4 prints, distribution of the film increased to 20 prints in the 2nd week , 64 in the 3rd, 150 in the 4th and 500 in the 5th, until it reached its current total of 2102 prints.

Sold to Warner Independent for 1 million dollars by the French company Wild Bunch, first feature by Luc Jacquet, with the voice of Morgan Freeman (Charles Berling and Romane Bohringer in the French version) it dares to dream of an Oscar selection. Having attracted more than 1,8 million French spectators (distributed by its co-producer BVI France), March of the Penguins still has a European career ahead of it with releases in Belgium, the Czech republic and Slovakia and in the weeks ahead will be distributed in the Netherlands, 29th September in Germany, 27th October in Austria, l2th December in Finland, and dates for the UK, Italy and Spain have yet to be fixed.

(Translated from French)