A public holiday, a grey November sky and more than a dozen new titles: the new films this week arrived in French cinemas on Wednesday 11 November, and audiences answered in numbers. According to CBO figures relayed by AlloCiné, the day’s new releases were led by a home-grown comedy about death, family and a strike at the worst possible moment.
Albert Dupontel’s Il faut brûler Maman drew 124,239 admissions on its first day, previews included, ahead of Ti West’s Scrooge with 108,510. Boxoffice Pro notes that, taken together, the newcomers sold close to 250,000 tickets on the holiday.
Our pick: Il faut brûler Maman
Dupontel has always filmed chaos with a tender eye, and his latest, released by Pathé, is no exception. A mother has died. Her three grown-up children, raised in the family funeral parlour, must organise her farewell themselves because the staff are on strike. Dupontel plays Fernand, the eldest, who runs the business and expresses himself more easily at the piano than in words. Louise Coldefy is Émilie, an insurance expert; Julia Piaton is Judith, a businesswoman in a hurry. Artus completes the troupe.
The film unfolds as a faux single take, gliding around a coffin and slipping into flashbacks. The reviews are split. Belgium’s Moustique found it funny, sharp and tender; Écran Large judged it a minor work in the director’s filmography. Parisians, at least, have made up their minds: the film recorded 2,868 admissions at the first afternoon screenings in Paris, which trade paper Écran Total calls the best Parisian start of Dupontel’s career.
The rest of the new releases
- Scrooge — Ti West, the horror stylist behind Pearl and MaXXXine, takes on Dickens, with Johnny Depp as the miser, Rupert Grint as Bob Cratchit and Andrea Riseborough among the ghosts. Released by Paramount, it is the season’s first Christmas tale.
- 15/18 — Cédric Kahn follows Lucia, 17, inside an adolescent psychiatric unit. A sober, closely observed drama.
- Comment braquer une banque — David Leitch’s heist thriller, with Nicholas Hoult and Zoë Kravitz, about a crew of robbers who go viral.
- Les Yeux verts — Fanny Liatard and Jérémy Trouilh tell the story of an 11-year-old girl trying to wake her brother from a mysterious sleep, with Anamaria Vartolomei.
- L’Âge d’or — Bérenger Thouin’s twentieth-century saga, from a family butcher’s shop to Brazil, with Souheila Yacoub.
- Also out: Khalil Cherti’s Ce qui nous mène à toi with Nina Meurisse, Jan Komasa’s The Good Boy with Stephen Graham, and Sandra Wollner’s Everytime.
Last week we watched Wild Horse Nine take Paris and Moulin lead France. Here is how that story continued.
Box office France and US: Moulin holds, Godzilla roars
In France, over the week of 4 to 10 November, Moulin stayed on top in its second week with around 229,000 admissions, bringing its total to roughly 575,000, according to CBO data published by AlloCiné and estimates from Ciné-Directors. Karma followed closely with some 219,000 tickets and has now passed 800,000. The best newcomer was L’Affaire Marie-Claire, with about 196,000 admissions, while Les Misérables crossed 1.3 million in total. Wild Horse Nine and Godzilla Minus Zéro each opened with roughly 128,000 tickets.
Across the Atlantic, the weekend of 6 to 8 November belonged to Takashi Yamazaki’s Godzilla Minus Zero. The Japanese-language sequel opened at number one in North America with about $30.6 million, according to final figures reported by The Numbers and Seat42F (the Sunday studio estimate cited by AP was $31.6 million). That is a record opening for a foreign-language live-action film in the US and Canada, beating the roughly $18 million debut of Zhang Yimou’s Hero, and the biggest launch in GKIDS history. Warner Bros.’ animated The Cat in the Hat came second with around $20 million, ahead of Drummer Boy at about $9.4 million.
The real test for Dupontel and Depp comes with this first full weekend. Bring a scarf, and pick your ghost.
Sources
- AlloCiné — Il faut brûler Maman au box-office France — 12 November 2026
- AlloCiné — Box-office France, week of 4 November — 12 November 2026
- AlloCiné — Films in cinemas on 11 November — 8 November 2026
- Boxoffice Pro — Box-office 1er jour — 12 November 2026
- Zickma — Box-office France du 11 novembre 2026 — 12 November 2026
- Écran Total — Comparatifs Paris 14h — 12 November 2026
- Freakin’ Geek — Sorties ciné et box-office du 11 novembre — 11 November 2026
- Moustique — Critique : Il faut brûler maman — 11 November 2026
- Écran Large — Il faut brûler maman, critique — 11 November 2026
- Critique Film — Les sorties du 11 novembre 2026 — 11 November 2026
- Ciné-Directors — Box-office français du 4 au 10 novembre 2026 — November 2026
- AP via Spectrum News NY1 — Godzilla Minus Zero record debut — 8 November 2026
- Seat42F — Godzilla Minus Zero $30.6 million opening — 9 November 2026
- The Numbers — Weekend box office, 6 November 2026 — November 2026
Cover photo: Photo: © Pathé — via Écran Large
