Asterix and the Olympic Games debuts with the biggest budget ever for a film in France
January 29, 2008
They may still be fighting off the Roman invaders, but with the release of Asterix and the Olympic Games, Asterix & Obelix have conquered the record for the biggest budget ever for a French film.
The film is being produced by Pathe, with La Petite Reine and Spain’s TriPictures as co-producing partners. Asterix and the Olympic Games is posed to march boldly across France and the rest of Europe. With the largest investment ever at stake for a French movie, the producers are hoping the slapstick film steps on no banana peels along the way.
Based on the popular French comic strip by Rene Goscinny and Albert Uderzo that debuted in France in 1968, this is the third Asterix & Obelix movie. The main title character is an upstart Gallic warrior who, despite his small size, refuses to bow to Roman conquest. He enlists the help of fat and comical Obelix, other Gallo-roman era friends and a magic potion to wage his campaign of resistance.
Asterix and the Olympic Games plays up tie-ins to the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. The story has Asterix travelling to Olympia to compete in the Games. Produced at a record cost of 78 million euros ($114 million), the film hopes to take France and the rest of the continent by storm with its star cast and massive release on 5,000 screens in 40 European countries over the next two weeks.
Gerard Depardieu reprises his usual role of the fat and friendly sidekick Obelix, while Alain Delon is a grumpy, narcissistic Julius Caesar. Clovis Cornillac takes over the title role of Asterix, replacing Christian Clavier, who starred in the first two big-screen adaptations. Also on hand are supermodel Vanessa Hessler (as Princess Irina) Claudia Cardinale, David Beckham, Jean-Claude Van Damme and Michael Schumacher, among others.
The star cast of Asterix cost the producers 10 million euros, the copyright for the Asterix characters seven million, eight million for sets and costumes, with 32 million euros going for technical elements during the six-month shoot in southern Spain, and exhaustive post-production laden with special effects.
And the pillaging of the producers’ coffers doesn’t stop there. Pathe’s marketing campaign—the richest ever for a French film—is reported to be 4 million euros ($5.8 million) in France alone. The high-profile publicity features 15,000 billboards across France. There are also PR tie-ins planned with phone company Orange, Volkswagen, McDonald’s and Nestle.
The film will have to do better than the first two Asterix & Obelix movies and attract hordes of viewers to make a profit this time out. So Pathe and its co-producer, La Petite Reine, are taking a barbarian-sized gamble. However, efforts have been made with Asterix and the Olympic Games to make the film more popular in countries outside of France.
“We thought, produced, cast and shot the film so it would export well,” said Emmanuel Montamat of La Petite Reine. To make it more accessible to non-French audiences, the movie features a handful of foreign stars: Spain’s Santiago Segura, Germany’s Michael Herbig and Canada’s Stephane Rousseau. Guest cameos include soccer star Zinedine Zidane, ex-Formula One champ Michael Schumacher, tennis ace Amelie Mauresmo and basketball wiz Tony Parker – all international brand names inside and outside of France.
In France the film is being released in 950 theatres, with around 800 in Russia coming later. It has already premiered in Poland and is being released in Germany, Spain, Belgium, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece, Italy, Turkey and Scandinavia.
However, while popular across the European continent, the Asterix & Obelix comic strip and its ancillary films have never caught on in the U.K. or other English-speaking countries. Co-writer and co-director Thomas Langmann cites cultural differences, saying the Brits just don’t get the characters or where they’re coming from. As a result, only three prints pf the new Asterix & Obelix movie will cross the pond to UK movie screens.
Comments
Got something to say?
You must be logged in to post a comment.