Asterix to the rescue?

returns to the big screen as France tries to match Hollywood by weaponising nostalgia in the battle for box office success.

Critics may bemoan the lack of originality in Hollywood in recent years, as risk-averse studios fall back on their catalogue of familiar superhero and sci-fi franchises. But it works: the top 10 of almost every country’s box office last year comprised Hollywood sequels, reboots and video game adaptations.

That is frustrating for France, where ministers wonder whether they are getting a return on vast state subsidies lavished on the film industry. Roselyne Bachelot, culture minister from 2020 to 2022, was scathing about her country’s filmmakers in a recent book. “Direct subsidies, advances on receipts, tax exemptions... have created a protected industry which not only doesn’t care much about audiences’ tastes but even expresses contempt for ‘mainstream’ and profitable films,” she wrote.

Paris-based Pathe wants to be an exception, not least because it also runs a large chain of cinemas. Borrowing from the Hollywood playbook, it has thrown large budgets at Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom, and

The Three Musketeers which follows in its wake. A reworking of

The Count of Monte Cristo and a Charles de Gaulle biopic are also in the pipeline.

Pathe president Ardavan Safaee said last year the French system of producing hundreds of small, arty films “isn’t viable in the long-term” and that France needs “more spectacular” fare to compete with Hollywood blockbusters and streaming platforms.

The strategy will likely work at home: the four previous Asterix movies (1999-2012) sold 35 million tickets in France and almost the same again around Europe.

The latest takes no chances, with popular stars (including Marion Cotillard and Vincent Cassel as Cleopatra and Julius Caesar) alongside cameos from rappers, YouTubers and even footballer Zlatan Ibrahimovic.

“Big films like this represent the joy, the celebration of making cinema in a very free and broad way,” said Gilles Lellouche, who inherits the large britches of Obelix from Gerard Depardieu.

Outside Europe, the prospects are less clear. The film has yet to find a Chinese distributor. Britain and the US are also tricky markets since audiences are unaccustomed to dubbed or subtitled family fare.