Box office 1st day: Kaamelott ideally launches his quest

Alexandre Astier’s new medieval adventure sits at the top of the week’s new releases, ahead of anime Chainsaw Man et The Shrinking Man.

The holidays welcome the return of the King. 76,000 fans went to discover Kaamelott – Second part, part 1 Wednesday, an average of 32 entries per session (e/s). Building on its numerous previews (AP), Alexandre Astier’s epic totaled 163,000 tickets, the second best start for a French film this year (with and without AP) behind God Save the Tuche. In full health pass in 2021, Kaamelott – First part had attracted 116,000 spectators (39 e/s) and more than 423,000 counting the AP, for a final of 2.7 million entries. More recently, The Three Musketeers: Milady had sold 73,000 tickets for its first day (28 e/s), for a total of 149,000 with AP and a final total of 2.6M.

Chainsaw Man – The Movie: Reze’s Arc brings together 43,000 curious people and offers the best average per screening among the new releases (34 e/s). Launched by Sony, the anime starts in line with Jujutsu Kaizen 0which sold 50,000 tickets (36 e/s), but posted a better total with AP (113,000 admissions). Moreover, Blue Lock Le Film – Episode Nagi captivated 26,000 spectators for a good average of 43 e/s (released during the Fête du Cinéma), while Haikyu!! The Garbage War was satisfied with 15,000 amateurs for 21 e/s.

The Shrinking Man by Jan Kounen starts almost on tiptoe, with 13 spectators per screening, 21,000 tickets (30,000 with AP) having been sold on Wednesday. For comparison, The Animal Kingdom captivated 23,000 moviegoers (16 f/s, 36,000 with AP) before benefiting from superb word-of-mouth (final total at 1.2M), when Suddenly alone lacked support at its launch with 12,000 curious people (10 e/s, 18,000 with AP) for an end of career around 250,000 entries.

On the heels of a shrunken Jean Dujardin, The Little Last by Hafsia Herzi delighted 20,000 moviegoers and more than 41,000 counting APs. With an average of 29 e/s, the film, which passed through the Cannes competition, displays a performance at the screening superior to those of The Story of Souleymane when it starts (20 I/O, 12,000 entries and 25,000 with AP), The Rapture (10 I/O, 3,000 tickets and 5,000 with AP) or Jim’s Novel (21 e/s, 20,000 tickets and 28,000 with AP).

Promising launch also for Arco by Ugo Bienvenu, which attracted nearly 20,000 fans, a good average of 30 e/s, and already 37,000 tickets sold with AP. Winner of the Annecy 2025 animated film festival, the futuristic adventure is off to a much better start than Mars Expressanother French animation, which sold 5,000 tickets (10 e/s, 10,000 with AP) in 2023, for a final total of 230,000 entries.

Animation for younger audiences is also celebrating thanks to the holidays: The Secret of the Tits successfully takes off with 28 spectators per screening (7,500 on Wednesday and nearly 20,000 entries with AP). An average much higher than those displayed by other animated films released during this period: 14 fps for Angelo in the mysterious forest (12,000 tickets and 22,000 with AP) in 2024, and 5 e/s for Linda wants chicken (2,000 tickets and 9,000 with AP) in 2023.

Towards an extinction of voice for Springsteen : Deliver Me From Nowhere ? The biopic on The Boss brings together barely 10,000 fans for only 8 spectators per screening, an average equivalent to that of Better Man on Robin Williams (7 e/s, 13,000 tickets and 22,000 with AP). However, this is a far cry from the performances of other artist-centered films, such as A complete stranger (32,000 entries, 19 I/O, 53,000 with AP) and Back to Black (49 000 billets, 28 e/s).

Passed through the Cannes Première section, The Disappearance of Josef Mengele captivates 3,500 moviegoers (17 e/s and 7,000 with AP), compared to 2,000 curious people for Limonov, la balade (6 I/O, 2500 with AP) and 9000 for Tchaickowski’s Woman (28 e/s, 13,000 with AP), previous achievements by Kirill Serebrennikov.