The recalcitrant Gaul whose new cinematic adventures will be released on June 1stah February is not at the head of a village but of an empire that is impressive to say the least. Guide…
65 million euros
Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom is the fifth feature film about the adventures of the Gauls in live action. Directed and co-written by Guillaume Canet – who also plays Asterix – this film is the first to have a non-album storyline. Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom, with a production budget of 65 million euros and which took 17 weeks to shoot, also stars Gilles Lellouche in the role of Obelix, the actor who gained 20 kg for the role. Vincent Cassel plays César and Marion Cotillard, Cleopatra, in this adventure in which Princess Fu Yi (Julie Chen) pleads with the Gauls to rescue her mother from Deng Tsin Qin (Bun Hay Mean). We note the presence of Matthieu Chedid on screen in Remix, and it is he who composes the feature film’s soundtrack.
6000 copies
“The character was invented in two hours by Uderzo and I, in a burst of laughter!” René Goscinny had confided to the pages of the Sunday newspaper. The adventures of the Gauls published in Pilote magazine are the subject of a first album published in 1961 in 6,000 copies. Four years later, Asterix is published among the Bretons in 400,000 copies.
Ninth panel
It is not until the 9th plate of Le tour de Gaule d’Asterix, published in 1965, that the little dog Idéfix appears for the first time. His name was chosen in a competition by the readers of the newspaper Pilote, who had the choice between Idéfix, Trépetix, Paindépix and Patracourcix.
42.6kg
The “village of the madmen” is so prominent in French culture that the very first French satellite, weighing 42.6 kg and launched on November 26, 1965, is… named Asterix!
2.41 million entries
The very first animated film, Asterix the Gaul, was released in France on December 20, 1967 and in Quebec four days later. It is Roger Carel who doubles the voice of Asterix, while Jacques Morel takes over that of Obélix. The 68-minute film reached 2.41 million viewers.
275 million francs
In 1999, Christian Clavier and Gérard Depardieu became the faces of the famous duo in Asterix and Obelix vs. Caesar, the first-ever live-action feature film. With a production budget of 275 million francs (around 41.9 million euros), the film, directed by Claude Zidi, was the most expensive film in the history of French cinema at the time.
87 years old
The then 87-year-old voice actor for short, shaggy Gaul Roger Carel announces that the film Asterix: The Domain of the Gods (2014) will be his last. The animated feature film is the first to be developed in 3D and it will be co-directed by none other than Alexandre Astier – the creator of Kaamelott – who will be returning in 2018 with Asterix: The Secret of the Magic Potion.
117 languages
In 2011, Albert Uderzo had celebrated 350 million Asterix albums sold, meaning “stacked 766 times the height of the Eiffel Tower and twice around the world when placed side by side”. The Adventures of Asterix has been translated into 117 languages, making it the most translated comic book in the world according to the Guinness Book of World Records. The 40th album, the title of which is not yet known, will be released on October 26, 2023 and will be designed by Didier Conrad and written by Fabrice Caro.
- Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom hits theaters on February 1st.