Gilles Lellouche’s “L’Amour ouf” Smashes Box Office Records!

French Box Office from October 30 to November 5, 2024

1 – L’Amour ouf: 864,877 admissions (total: 3,036,666)

2 – Venom – The Last Dance: 736,850 admissions (New)

3 – Monsieur Aznavour: 455,322 admissions (total: 1,070,738)

4 – Juror No. 2: 453,813 admissions (New)

5 – The Wild Robot: 252,251 admissions (total: 1,482,850)

6 – Anora: 212,504 admissions (New)

7 – Flow: 150,499 admissions (New)

8 – Smile 2: 129,641 admissions (total: 679,423)

9 – Croquette the Marvelous Cat: 120,630 admissions (total: 496,026)

10 – Four Zeros: 101,107 admissions (total: 304,069)

Key Takeaways

As vibrant and intense as the narrative it portrays, “L’Amour ouf” remains at the pinnacle of the American box office for the third consecutive week, with a remarkable retention, as the film by Gilles Lellouche has only seen a 26% drop in admissions compared to the week of October 23-29, already crossing the three million viewer threshold.

Although the end of vacation season might slow its momentum, given its popularity among the youth, the feature is poised to surpass five million admissions. This would rank it as the fourth biggest hit of the year in France, ahead of “Despicable Me 4” but behind “Inside Out 2”. It would be part of a top five that includes three regional films, with “A Little Something Extra” and “The Count of Monte Cristo” by its side.

At the moment of reflection, the box office scenario presents two perspectives: one shows declining cinema health, while the other highlights French films dominating the charts. For Gilles Lellouche and Pierre Niney, a notable double success is on the cards, thanks to “Inside Out 2” and respectively, “L’Amour ouf” and “The Count of Monte Cristo”.

However, the feature had to withstand several new releases, including “Venom – The Last Dance”, which achieved the best per-theater average of the week (with 1,142 viewers per screen) and marked the second-best franchise debut for Marvel led by Tom Hardy, ensuring it will surpass the one million mark like its predecessors.

Coming in third by the weekend’s close, “Juror No. 2” ultimately succumbed to “Monsieur Aznavour” (which became the twenty-sixth film of 2024 to reach a million admissions despite higher expectations at the box office). Clint Eastwood’s final directorial effort opened better than “Cry Macho” and “Richard Jewell”, but not as well as “The Mule”, which had crossed a million.

Will “Juror No. 2” become the fifteenth (and final) film of his career to hit this symbolic milestone? With the third-best per-theater average of the week and positive word-of-mouth, this legal drama has already covered half the ground, and the upcoming three-day weekend might boost its performance further.

How Did the Palme d’Or Winner Fare?

Placing sixth behind “The Wild Robot” which is on its way to two million, “Anora” gathered 212,504 viewers. This is better than “No Filter” (or “Titane”, restricted to viewers over 16 and celebrated post-release) but less than “Anatomy of a Fall”, among recent Palme d’Or winners. Moreover, it already sets a new record for Sean Baker in France, previously held by “The Florida Project” with 167,914 admissions.

Thus, the Palme effect is evident for “Anora” which has all the potential to reach 500,000 admissions. This is highly achievable considering it’s a widely accessible film for general audiences and not divisive, with many cinemas likely to keep it on their screens for several weeks.

Figures: CBO – Box-Office