France has seen its all-time openingadmissions record fall to comedy Les Bronzes 3: AmisPour La Vie.

The filmbecame the first title ever to take more than 3 million admissions in its firstweekend. The record was secured with 3,234,559 million tickets sold in itsfirst five days after releasing last Wednesday (February 1). Itsbox office gross stands at approximately $24.2m (Euro 20.06m) from 950 printsaccording to distributor Warner Bros.

The sequelhas beat local blockbusters like AsterixAnd Obelix: MissionCleopatra and Taxi 2 by 9% and 10% respectively, and recent Hollywood powerhouses Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge Of The Sith and Harry Potter And The Goblet Of Fire by 12% and 15%. However,Les Bronzes 3 performed even better than is obvious against the two previouslocal leaders which both included previews in their opening figures, which LesBronzes 3 did not have.

Released byWarner Bros France the film is the third installment of a series of films which debuted in 1978 withLes Bronzes followed by Les Bronzes Font DuSki in 1979. All three films star a troupe of actors - Thierry Lhermitte, Gerard Jugnot, Josiane Balasko, Michel Blanc,Marie-Anne Chazel and Christian Clavier - who havegone on to great success since the original film. Lecontealso directed the first two editions. Les Films Christian Fechner,TF1 Films Productions and TPS Cinema co-produced.

Thecomedies follow the escapades of a group of friends on vacation. The $42m (Euros 35m)budgeted third film was shot on location this summer in Sardinia.

Les Bronzes3. also opened top in French-speaking Switzerland on 30 screens for JMH, where ittook $881,692 (SFR 1.14m), and Belgium through Elyseewhere it grossed $1.28m (Euro 1.07m).