Asterix at the Olympic Games, broadcast this evening on TF1, was for a long time the most expensive film in the history of French cinema. Story of a slightly too megalomaniac project.
In 2005, Thomas Langmann, the son of Claude Berri, started work on Asterix at the Olympic Games, the adaptation for cinema of the comic book album of the same name. He chooses to produce and co-direct the film with Frédéric Forestier, co-author of the film Le Boulet. In the casting, Clovis Cornillac succeeds Christian Clavier in the role of Asterix. Gérard Depardieu, he keeps that of Obélix. Langmann offers himself Alain Delon, who demonstrates self-deprecation in narcissism César (“Ave moi”), as well as Benoît Poelvoorde in the role of the treacherous Brutus, the adopted son of the Roman emperor. After the triumph of Asterix and Obelix against Cesar, of Claude Zidi, in 1999 (nearly 9 million admissions in France), and especially that of Asterix and Obelix: Mission Cléopâtre, by Alain Chabat, in 2002 (more of 14.5 million spectators), the producer is confident and thinks big.
With a colossal budget of 78 million euros (almost 30 million more than Chabat’s film), to which must be added 20 million for its promotional campaign, this Franco-Italian-Hispano-German co-production will be the most expensive of the history of Gallic cinema (Luc Besson will beat this record in 2017 with Valérian): 8 million euros for the making of costumes; 32 million for technical means (the rental of studios in Alicante, Spain, where the film is mainly shot, or the thousand digital special effects in postproduction); 10 million euros for the comedians’ fees … including 1.2 million for Delon and 1.4 million for Depardieu! We must also pay the sports stars who make an appearance at these Olympics, such as Zinedine Zidane or Michael Schumacher driving a tank in the colors of his stable, Ferrari. Albert Uderzo and the family of Goscinny (the fathers of the famous comic strip) already receive 3 million euros in copyright and 10% of the revenues.
To make his film profitable, Langmann is counting on 10 million admissions in France. And wishes to exceed 24 million worldwide. But, when, on January 30, 2008, the film was released simultaneously in more than 1,000 theaters in France and 6,000 European screens, its receipts were disappointing with “only” 6.8 million admissions in France and 9.4 million ‘entries abroad. The film is exhausted by critics. Benoît Poelvoorde will even regret having shot it. The distributor Pathé, he will have had a hollow nose: a month later, he released a little comedy which will, against all odds, replenish the boxes and surpass the receipts of Asterix: Welcome to the Ch’tis!
Source: https://www.programme.tv/news/cinema/210009-asterix-aux-jeux-olympiques-tf1-genese-dun-film-trop-pharaonique/
Asterix at the Olympic Games, Asterix films, TF1, Thomas Langmann
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World news – EN – Asterix at the Olympic Games (TF1): genesis of a (too) pharaonic film – cinema – TV 2 weeks
