A little something extra- Monte-Cristo- L’Amour ouf: The reasons for their triumph

If the share of French cinema is close to that of American cinema in 2024, it owes it to these three films for which no one had imagined such a hit. A look back at their paid strategies.

A little something extra d'Artus

“ I was clearly told that people did not want to see disabled people in the cinema. » Artus confided to us a few days before the release of his first feature film, without imagining for a single moment – ​​despite previews which were sold out – that this one would attract 10.8 million spectators and become the biggest French box office success in 2024. These interlocutors did not even try to cover all this behind false excuses. We wanted to finance my film but not with this population! “. It is always easy to redo history but we can legitimately be surprised by this blockage when, on the small screen, since September 2022, The Papotin Meetingsthe show produced by the Nakache-Toledano duo, is a hit with each of its numbers regardless of the guest, on Saturday evenings on France 2. But it has found capable producers in Pierre Forette and Thierry Wong of Ciné Nominé. both to see the popular potential of the film – in particular this ability of the film to laugh with its characters without ever apologizing for its failures – and to give Artus the means to do so, particularly in terms of filming duration. So that actors with little or no experience with disabilities never feel oppressed by time. And so that Artus himself could follow through with the method he had chosen: “ I'm not a big fan of rehearsals, I like the spontaneous side. This is the reason why, once on set, I wanted the camera to always be ready to roll to steal things here and there and follow their rhythm because it was important not to feel like they were playing. . I like small mistakes, so I rarely correct things post-sync. I don't care if we don't understand this or that word as long as we understand the meaning of the whole. I want my characters to speak like they do in real life and not too smooth. It adds sincerity. » A sincerity that pays off.

The Count of Monte Cristo by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patellière

With 9.3 million spectators, this adaptation of the novel by Alexandre Dumas established itself as the second biggest success of the year in France. And there again, its two directors, even in their wildest dreams, would never have envisaged such a fate for their film. “ We knew that for several years, such a score had become truly inaccessible for films that are not pure comedies. We feared a glass ceiling. In our wildest dreams, we hoped to be familiar with the 4.5 million entries of the Cyrano de Bergerac by Jean-Paul Rappeneau. We are double! It is difficult to measure what is happening. And we know today that for the rest of our lives, we will all think about Monte Cristo with emotion. And we will never forget the risks that Dimitri Rassam and Pathé took for this film. » And the taste for risk and the art of managing them are in fact at the heart of this project whose success has been largely built on the appetite of young audiences to see and rewatch the film, a target that the previous one production of Dimitri Rassam, the diptych of Three musketeershad failed to attract despite excellent test screenings on it. “ We did some studies and discovered two things », explains the producer in the latest issue of First. “ 26% of the youngest did not come because it was a French film. And 21% because it was a historical film! » Enough to promise the same fate for The Count of Monte Cristo unless you revise your strategy from top to bottom. “ We questioned ourselves about the way we had presented the projects. Thus, rather than highlighting the heritage dimension, we presented more of the story, the revenge “. And then there is the gamble – moving forward from October as planned – to avoid head-on competition with Love phew already dated at this time – at the end of June the release of the film. On a date which, because of the sequence of Euro football and Olympic Games, scared a lot of distributors… and was also going to be hit by the announcement by Emmanuel Macron of the dissolution with elections the weekend of this exit. And this date of June 28, allowed Monte Cristo both to take advantage of the excellent reception at Cannes outside of competition and, in the absence of strong competition, to install the film over the length and grow word of mouth without fear of losing theaters along the way . A risky bet. A winning choice

Love phew by Gilles Lellouche

However, everything started very badly. Despite a standing ovation during its official presentation in the Cannes competition, Love phewthis ultra-ambitious 37 million euro project that Gilles Lellouche had been carrying around for 18 years, was hit hard the next morning by a largely negative review. Or the exact opposite of what he had experienced with The Great Bath who had not gone through the competition box. A return to Earth which could portend the worst for the release of the film five months later. Except that here again a change of strategy will prove decisive. After hearing a producer friend confide to him that his twenty-year-old son had loved the film, Hugo Sélignac, Alain Attal and their distributor StudioCanal will explore this avenue, organize a test screening at the end of June in Paris by bringing together only a young audience whose enthusiasm will push them to “sell” Love phew like the film of a generation. The one who had not known the 80s and 90s in which the action takes place and who fantasizes them as Gilles Lellouche fantasizes them on screen by revisiting his youth. Love phew will become their 37°2 in the morning and the Malik Frikah-Mallory Wanecque duo the heroes into whom they can project themselves. But to achieve this result, Gilles Lellouche was also able to count on producers who let him edit the film until the week before release, which almost never happens. A huge financial risk taken with success. The film has exceeded 4.7 million admissions and continues to attract 50,000 spectators per week at the beginning of January.