Box office France: Avatar drops the competition for its big comeback

Thirteen years after making history, Avatar returns to take the lead at the box office, whileA great race and Don’t Worry Darling do not deserve.

As we could predict, it’s the return ofAvatar, in a superb 4K restoration, which created the event this week. If some doubted that James Cameron could repeat his feat of thirteen years ago in the current configuration, and were already predicting a failure for the future Avatar: The Waterway, there will be here enough to question these bad omens. The planet Pandora still impresses and has already attracted more than 335,000 spectators for its first week of operation. A score that allows him to take hands down the head of the French box office.

Certainly, the film remains very far from its massive start of 2,648,000 admissions in 2009, but still easily crushes all its competitors. In comparison, the output of Spider-Man: No Way Home in our theaters had only attracted around 42,000 spectators in its first week at the beginning of this month, being almost as well distributed. James Cameron’s film shines with an excellent average of 975 viewers per copy (the best ranking average by far) for only 344 rooms. It is therefore an absolute triumph (neither the first nor the last) for Avatar who took over the reins effortlessly.

In second place is A great race, the dramatic comedy with Dany Boon and Line Renaud, which stands out among the real novelties. With its favorable headline and its very good distribution (with 531 theaters, it is the best-distributed new release of the week), the film earned over 180,000 admissions for its launch. This is one of the best starts for its director, Christian Carion, who had however had his best score in 2005 with Merry Christmas (606,000 entries in the first week). With A great raceit returned to the box office in better shape than its previous film, My Sonwhich, in 2021, started with only 34,000 entries.

In third place, the mysterious new film by Olivia Wilde, Don’t Worry Darlingdefends itself rather well. The feature film attracted more than 150,000 curious people for its start. ; a completely honest result which could also be maintained with good word-of-mouth and an increase in the number of cinemas. With its 425 viewers per print, the exciting Don’t Worry Darling is both third in the box office and in the best average spectators of the week, which solidifies its position in the top.

Well established in third place

Another novelty: Other people’s children also does quite well. Rebecca Zlotowski’s new feature film is the least well-distributed film in the top 5 (with 330 theaters), but still obtains the second best average per print this week (432 spectators per print). With more than 142,000 spectators in cinemas the second film with Virginie Efira in this ranking, the director established the best start to her filmography. Even more, with this launch alone, Rebecca Zlotowski recorded more admissions than her previous two films (An easy girl and Planetarium) throughout their operation. It is a happy success for the filmmaker, therefore.

During this time, Kompromat, entering its third week, tumbled from its top spot. Despite a very minimal loss of 7.15% of its admissions, the feature film with Gilles Lellouche was driven from its throne by all the latest news to settle for fifth place in the ranking. A fall greatly cushioned by a gain of 192 new theaters showing the film (with 743 theaters in total, Kompromat is the best-distributed film of the moment). More than 126,000 spectators therefore returned to see the film this weekgiving it good stability at the box office.

Kompromat does not compromise

Beyond the top 5, See Paris again proudly stands in sixth place in the standings. Virginie Efira definitely brings good luck to her directors. With 375,000 admissions in total, the film has already broken all of Alice Winocour’s recordswhich had not even reached 100,000 with its last Nearby and Maryland. See Paris again even gained 2.54% in attendance (the only increase of the week).

At the same time, Chronicle of a temporary liaison was quickly chased from second place to seventh this week. Despite only 82,000 spectators for its second week of operation, Emmanuel Mouret’s film exceeds 200,000 cumulative and does better than his previous film. In eighth position, The visitor from the future registers almost 60,000 spectators for its 500 rooms and begins to take a nosedive in its third week of operation, evoking a significant drop in speed following general curiosity.

We loved each other so much

In ninth place, Bullet Train doesn’t want to leave us alone and is still hanging on a bit, surpassing its 1.5 million admissions this week. As for the inexorable Top Gun: Maverick, he gets ejected from the top 10 (in its eighteenth week of operation, we will forgive him) by Tad the Explorer which, since it is broadcast in twice as many theaters, manages to make 2,000 admissions more than the fighter pilot. Kudos to him. Finally, a little thought for the moving My Father’s Secrets, which collected less than 12,000 spectators for its first weekdespite being a nice little French animated film that we invite you to discover.

Many new features this week (as well as a major re-release) and rather encouraging scores for most of them. Wheras’Avatar prepares the throne which will necessarily return to his suite in a few months, and recalls that he is still the sole master of 3D entertainment, French cinema does not demerit in the rankings. Next week, however, he will have to hold on well with the arrival of The Woman Kingof the transgressive Palme d’Or Without Filter or even a horror movie, Smile. New features that should, once again, redistribute all the cards.