Taxi 2, produced by Luc Besson's Leeloo Productions and distributed by Arp Selection, has smashed the all-time opening day record in France, attracting a massive 759,152 admissions from 830 screens.

Taxi 2 is the highly-anticipated follow-up to 1998 hit Taxi which became the fourth highest grossing hit in France in 1998 after attracting a total of 6.3 million cinema-goers. The sequel, produced on a budget of $10.3m (FFr70m), was expected to be successful but not to beat off previous domestic record-holders.

Pathe's $40.3m (FFr275m) French-German-Italian co-production Asterix And Obelix Vs Caesar racked up 446,724 admissions from 832 screens on its opening day last year and ranked at the top of 1999's box office chart with 8.9 million admissions. Gaumont's hit comedy sequel Les Visiteurs 2 sold 427,291 tickets on its first day, ranking third in total in 1998 with 8 million admissions. However Titanic only pulled in 206,000 cinema-goers on its first day of release in 1998 due to the fewer screenings possible per day because of its running length.

In Paris, Taxi 2 attracted 110,454 admissions from 55 screens, beating Star Wars: Episode One - The Phantom Menace's blockbuster opening of 91,222 admissions in the French capital earlier this year.