The recent releases of "Brotherhood of the Wolf" and "Taxi 2" are unusual but veritable successes for French cinema in Poland.
Barely 137,000 Poles turned out for French-language films in 2000, and Poland usually provides scant audiences for French films. The fine reception given to "Brotherhood of the Wolf," released on August 24, is therefore a total contrast. Syrena, Poland’s largest distributor, launched the film with a multi-print release normally reserved for the likes of "Shrek" or "Lara Croft."
During the first week of its run, the film immediately rose to number 3 at the box office and by the end of its second week had been seen by nearly 90,000 people. This score means that Christophe Gans’s film has placed in the top third bracket of ticket sales for French-language films in the past 5 years.
Although "Asterix and Obelix versus Caesar" clocked up 537,000 admissions by the end of its run, and "Microcosmos" came in with 362,000, no other French-language film had crossed the threshold of 100,000 tickets sold within the same period. "Taxi 2" changed all that, for it is France’s second post-summer success in the Polish market. Released on September 7 by SPI International, it jumped to the number 1 box office position that week, totaling audiences of 34,000 spectators in the first three days of its run.
Given this new context, the upcoming release of "Amelie" (October 19) by Gutek Film, is awaited with bated breath.
