Michael Schumacher racing a chariot, Zinedine Zidane in Egyptian garb kicking a ball — Asterix at the Olympic Games, France’s biggest-budget movie ever, was designed with a bit of magic Gallic potion to please any audience.
PARIS: Michael Schumacher racing a chariot, Zinedine Zidane in Egyptian garb kicking a ball — Asterix at the Olympic Games, France’s biggest-budget movie ever, was designed with a bit of magic Gallic potion to please any audience.
Whether the slapstick comic-book routine will work this time is a million-dollar question. Produced at a record cost of $114 million, its star cast and massive release, is timed to benefit from the 2008 Olympic spirit, and its financial spin-off.
In terms of budget, it beats Luc Besson’s two blockbusters The Fifth Element and Arthur And The Minimoys, but to get a payback, the film will need to beat the two first Asterix films at the box office.
The 1998 movie starring the pint-sized hero’s crusade against the Roman Empire, Asterix and Obelix against Caesar, sold 25 million tickets. Four years later, Mission Cleopatra did almost as well with 24.5 million.
“We thought, produced, cast and shot the film so it would export well,” said Emmanuel Montamat of La Petite Reine, co-producers with Pathe.
In France the film is being released in 950 cinemas, followed by around 800 in Russia. It premiered in Poland and is being released in Germany, Spain, Belgium, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Greece, Italy, Turkey and Scandinavia.
Loosely based on a 1968 comic book of the same name, the 12th in the series about the tiny Rome-bashing Gaul and his portly sidekick Obelix, the made-to-measure movie makes no bones about exploiting the Olympic factor.
Along with Schumacher (as “Schumix”) and Zidane (“Numerodix”), movie-goers get a few amusing moments of basketball star Tony Parker (“Tonus Parker”) and tennisstar Amelie Mauresmo (“Amelix”).
But with more action than drole lines, the movie and its big-name cast leaves the audience with more of a grin than a side-splitting laugh.
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