Hidden became the latestfilm to join the select few foreign language titles to pass £1m ($1.7m) in theUK at the weekend and became distributor Artificial Eye's first £1m hit since1994.
Hidden (Cache) opened onJanuary 27 and crossed the mark after just five weekends in the territory. Thefilm, which won best director for Michael Haneke atthe 2005 Cannes Film Festival, has taken $1.85m (£1.06m) in the
It is now Artificial Eye'ssecond biggest film (see chart) having surpassed Chen Kaige'sFarewell My Concubine, which grossed $1.81m (£1.039m), and Robert Altman'sShort Cuts, which took $1.8m (£1.033m). Both titles were released in 1994.
While Hidden has plenty oflife left in it as evidenced by the $127,757 (£73,243) it added from 36locations at the weekend - a week-on-week slip of just 27%, it will not eachthe heights of its distributors best earner, 1991's Cyrano De Bergerac. TheGerard Depardieu costume drama grossed $4.4m (£2.46m).
Hiddensuccess comes hot on the heels of a good 2005 for Artificial Eye which enjoyedsolid arthouse returns from Italian title The Consequences OfLove ($0.79m) and BAFTA winning best foreign film, The Beat That My Heart Skipped ($0.95m). The latter is stillrunning.
Upcoming titles onArtificial Eye's slate include Cannes Palme d'Or winner The Child(L'Enfant) on March 10, DominikMoll's Lemming (April 28) andFrancois Ozon's TimeTo Leave (May 12).
The newly christened Lionsgate
Artificial Eye Top 10 Filmsin
Title (Year of UK release)Gross in £
1 Cyrano De Bergerac (1991) £2,458,175
2 Hidden (2006) £1,056,605*
3 Farewell My Concubine (1994) £1,039,622
4 Short Cuts (1994) £1,033,668
5 Land And Freedom (1995) £798,872
6 Ridicule (1997) £729,436
7 Un Coeur En Hiver (1993) £715,505
8 Amateur (1995) £668,309
9 Zatoichi (2004) £668,172
10 Trop Belle Pour Toi (1990) £618,318
Source: Screen International/NielsenEDI
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