Despite Bérézina in terms of critics, Napoleon reigns over the French box office

The biopic of Napoleon Bonaparte by Ridley Scott took first place at the box office in France for its first week of operation, according to CBO figures compiled on Wednesday.

Also read For critics, Napoleon is more Trafalgar than Austerlitz

The nearly $200 million film, which sees actor Joaquin Phoenix wearing the emperor's cocked hat, attracted nearly one in three spectators this week (764,000 visitors in 743 theaters).

It leaves in its wake the last part of The Hunger Games: The Ballad of the Serpent and the Songbird, by Francis Lawrence, with 370,000 admissions (983,000 in total two weeks after its release).

The Boy and the Heron, Japanese animated film by master Hayao Miyazaki, slips to third place on the podium with 138,000 admissions (1.3 million after 4 weeks of operation).

1. Napoleon: 764,419 entries out of 743 copies (new)

2. Hunger Games: The Ballad of the Serpent and the Songbird: 370,275 admissions from 674 copies (983,466 admissions in two weeks)

3. The boy and the heron: 138,088 entries on 926 copies (1,369,028 entries in four weeks)

4. Abbé Pierre, a life of combat: 120,998 entries on 760 copies (666,495 entries in three weeks)

5. The Marvels: 107,796 admissions on 623 copies (660,648 admissions in three weeks)