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Bless you Michael Bay. Armageddon is a masterpiece.

Chienfantome, I was wondering- you keep counting in entries. Are entries a financial amount like euros or a quanity amount like # of tickets sold? Just curious for sake of reference.

From what I was noticed about french and american film relations was that people like Woody Allen and John Waters, auter style directors, thrive in french soil. Also a running joke in american humor is france's fascination with Dean Martin. How true is these things that I have heard?

Probaly the french film that have liked the most have been City of the Lost Children, Eyes without a Face, Leon The Professional, and the Fifth Element (that I can think of now.)

tuan69 wrote:

Just wondering Chienfantome, do you guys only measure a film's success by it's entries? I know all countries measure this too, but they never report it to the general public.

That's why I find it a little strange every time you mention a film's entries instead of it's box-office.

Please elaborate.

In France, box-office is reported in entries, or if you prefer the number of tickets sold. We never mention box-office in euro revenues. Every wednesday (day the films are released in France) night, the number of tickets sold the preceding week are reported (from wednesday morning to tuesday night). Every thursday morning, the number of tickets sold in Paris are reported. Instead of counting in dollars or euros, we count the number of people who saw the film. No problem of inflation to take in account thanks to that.

jameydunne wrote:

Chienfantome, I was wondering- you keep counting in entries. Are entries a financial amount like euros or a quanity amount like # of tickets sold? Just curious for sake of reference.

From what I was noticed about french and american film relations was that people like Woody Allen and John Waters, auter style directors, thrive in french soil. Also a running joke in american humor is france's fascination with Dean Martin. How true is these things that I have heard?

Probaly the french film that have liked the most have been City of the Lost Children, Eyes without a Face, Leon The Professional, and the Fifth Element (that I can think of now.)

Ok, there are always exceptions and people who don't feel or think that way, but I'm gonna tell you basically the tastes of french film buffs, set things straight.

Dean Martin : Yes.

That's something we really don't understand in France, how could it possibly be a joke, that we love Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Lewis is considered a comic genius, and Dean Martin an incarnation of a certain american era. We love Lewis gags, we love Martin's charm. Personnally, I have a dozen Dean Martin songs in my Ipod, and it's so funny you mention Martin, cause this morning, on my way to work, I listened them all !!!!

Woody Allen, John Waters et al... : Yes. Woody Allen is one of the most popular and famous american director in France. His name is enough to bring more than 500.000 spectators. "Scoop" made 800.000 entries last year. That's more than Tony Scott's "Deja Vu" which made 750.000. Match Point made more than 1.5 million entries. France loves Woody Allen and he loves us back. It's in France that his films make the more money.

John Waters doesn't attract as much as Allen, far from it, BUT he is definitly well considered and considered like a true auteur. The same goes for someone like John Carpenter, which always is backed by the critics in France (it helps that Howard Hawks, his model, is considered one of the greatest directors ever over here).

If you need recommendations for french films, tell me jamey

Chienfantome, thank you. I can now add two more ideas in filmland from France that makes me like them more. First instead of counting the quantity of money a film earns, you count ticket sales. That sounds like a number that will translate longer than a box office number. Second, a more open praise of nondramatic directors, by way of Ford, Carpenter, etc.

I knew I had to be missing something.

You know, the love of us french for directors like Hawks and Carpenter is probably in some way an heritage of the "Nouvelle Vague", whose directors members were the first to say how great Hawks was.
In France, some (and not just a few, and I'm one of them) consider Rio Bravo one of the greatest piece of cinema ever. And what a surprise, Dino Martin's in it...

You want another info I think you might consider interesting about cinema in France ? In Paris, in 2000, a theater circuit (UGC) launched a new subscription card... a new way of paying cinema. A card for which you pay 18 euros / month. For 18 euros / month, you can see all the films you want in the circuit. The card was very soon a huge success, and other circuits followed UGC and launched their cards. The little theaters, art & essai theaters, soon accepted the use of those cards in their own theaters to not lose spectators. It increased the number of entries quickly, in multiplexes and little cinemas accepting the cards.

Now those cards, usually called "unlimited cards", are totally part of the way the french go to the cinema. Can you imagine the money you save ? I know it changed my life. IN 2000, I saw 1, 2 films a week. Now I see 4 to 5 films a week, paying only 18 euros a month (around 20$). 20 films each month, so 1$ for each film, basically. Now in Paris, almost every regular spectator has such a card.

I'm all for that. The closest thing that I can do to save money and see lots of movies in the process is cheap seats, matinees, or drive in theatres. Despite the lesser technology, (radio from your car, a little speaker box you can stick on your dash), I like the huge screen, the multiple features, and that you can bring in your own food (tailgating at movies, yippee!)

Who knows, maybe one day american theaters will launch their own "unlimited cards"...

Well I'm off to a week of holidays in Normandie, but I'll be glad to talk about the matter when I get back ! Cheers !

Us, Uk, France, Australia....
Is there anybody here from a smaller country. I'm from Macedonia and i can proudly say that actually macedonian movies are more popular here than the hollywood ones.
AND THE MACEDONIAN CITIZEN IS DEFINITELY BEFORE THE RAIN
HOWEVER THE PEOPLES FAVORITE ONE IS A MOVIE THAT MOST OF YOU GUYS WON"T EVEN UNDERSTAND AND IT"S NAME IS BAL_CAN_CAN

i am from a smaller country but i surely don't scream like you !

Bless you Michael Bay. Armageddon is a masterpiece.

how can your elbow even be on the caps lock button when you're typing??

If you only type with one hand, maybe?

Bless you Michael Bay. Armageddon is a masterpiece.

Bollywood produces something like 650 feature-length films a year! Has anyone seen one? They are hilarious--no offense to our Indian neighbors, but they are.

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