The funny story of the Taxi saga at the box office

The first part recorded 6.5 million admissions without being once at the top of the list.

On the occasion of the cinema release of Taxi 5 (who recorded the 3rd best first week of 2018 thanks to 1.5 million spectators), we had analyzed the scores of its predecessors at the box office. Here are the details, while waiting to see the first part again, this evening on TF1.

How does Taxi 5 manage the legacy of the Taxi saga?

1998: Taxi vs. titanic
It all started 25 years ago. On April 8, 1998, exactly, the first Taxi, produced by Luc Besson, moved nearly 800,000 onlookers to 400 cinemas in France. A nice score!

However, the action comedy worn by Samy Naceri and Frédéric Diefenthal is not at the top of the French weekly ranking. And never will be, which will not prevent it from accumulating nearly 6.5 million admissions. How is it possible ? The main culprit is titanic : James Cameron’s film, released at the beginning of January, continues to attract a crowd of spectators three months later. From its release in early March 1998, ie for 9 weeks, the romance carried by Kate Winslet and Leonardo DiCaprio sells more than a million tickets per week. A huge success, which slowly declines afterwards, but at the time of the release of Taxi, Titanic still recorded 844,667 admissions in 715 cinemas.

Finally, Taxi obtains 4th place in the 1998 top, behind titanictherefore, which reached 21 million admissions, but also the Dinner of idiots, released a week after the film by Gérard Pirès and which ends its run beyond 9 million. And who manages to succeed titanic at the top of the weekly rankings by attracting more than a million onlookers three weeks in a row. The Visitors 2released in mid-February, was also a great success, selling 8 million tickets.

Samy Naceri absent from Taxi 5: the actor gives his version of the facts

2000: Taxi 2 on your mind
Following the pretty box of the first part, Luc Besson quickly launched the production of a sequel. Samy and Frédéric return, as do Marion Cotillard, Emma Shoberg and Bernard Farcy, and the public follows: Taxi 2 records 10.3 million admissions in 2000, thus taking first place in the annual top ahead of Sixth Sense (7.7 million), Dinosaur (5), Gladiator (4.7) and Toy Story 2 (4.4).

The sequels often double the original films at the box office, and there the success is undeniable: in one week, Taxi 2 moved 3.4 million onlookers to 831 theaters (i.e. more than double the number of copies than for the first episode). It is dislodged from the first weekly place after a month by Scream 3 (1.3 million spectators at the start), but at that time, the film had already crossed the 8 million mark.

Malik Bentalha (Taxi 5): “We couldn’t even release the lines of the first films today without creating big controversy”

2003: Taxi 3 stronger than Matrix 2 And 3
With nearly 17 million cumulative entries in two opuses, the saga could not stop there. In 2003 comes out Taxi 3 in 969 theatres: a quasi-record distribution, since only Harry Potter 2 was offered in over 1,000 theaters at the time (The Lord of the Rings 3 will obtain 993 copies in December 2003). This sequel has accumulated 6.1 million tickets, which is once again high: it is the 3rd biggest success of the year behind The world of Nemo (9.4 million admissions) and The king’s returnprecisely (7,3), and in front of Matrix Reloaded (5.6 million), Pirates of the Caribbean And Pet (3.5 million each). In details, Taxi 3 However, it starts below 2, with 2.2 million sold in the first week, 1.3 million in the second and then less than a million thereafter.

2007: Cab 4 doubled by The kid Marion Cotillard
The fourth opus in the saga starts with more than 2 million admissions, but will ultimately accumulate fewer admissions than its predecessors: 4.5 million, in 2007. A score that will still allow it to acquire 7th place of the annual top, quite far behind Ratatouille (7.8 million) and Spider Man 3 (6.3). Ironically, he finds himself right in front of him The kid (5.2 million), the biopic of Edit Piaf carried by Marion Cotillard, who left the saga Taxi with the previous episode.

Taxi 5 is a successful comedy (review)