The expectation of figures must have been feverish on the side of the Gauls. With a pharaonic production cost – 65 million euros – and murderous reviews, industrial disaster was announced for Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Empire. But the popularity of the two Gauls finally attracted the public en masse in dark rooms, against all odds. A week after the release of the film on February 1, 1.6 million spectators – including 276,000 in preview – went to dark rooms to attend the Chinese adventures of Asterix and Obelix, according to Le Film Français. But among the five adaptations of the famous comic strip by Goscinny and Uderzo, Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom ranks fourth, ahead of Au service de Sa Majesté (1,027,310 viewers in the first week) but after Asterix and Obelix against Caesar ( 2.2 million spectators over the same period), Asterix at the Olympic Games (2.71 million in seven days of operation) and finally the unbeatable Mission Cléopâtre and its 2.9 million spectators in the first week of operation in 2002. Guillaume Canet’s film also took the opportunity to dethrone Avatar 2 – which had been in the lead for seven weeks – at the box office for the week. This week, 319,482 spectators came to see James Cameron’s film, bringing the total to 13 million admissions for the second part of the saga. See also on Konbini
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