A smash in its first week out, Podium cracked the one million admissions mark to earn over $8m on 554 screens. The film, which stars Benoit Poelvoorde, handily beat out the Jan Kounen directed Blueberry which opened in fourth place.

The comic book adaptation from producer Thomas Langmann was a disappointment both at the box office and with audiences and critics. With a roughly Euros 40m budget, the film will have a hard time making its money back as projections are that it will top out at 700,000 admissions.

Comedy Les 11 Commandments held fast in second position, off by only 26% from the previous week, which is doubly impressive given the competition.

Most films in the top 20 in fact stood their ground reasonably well with performance decreases averaging 26%. Other new entries this week include Robert Altman's dance drama The Company in 14th position, The UK's Touching The Void in 15th place and animated film L'Ile De Black Mor at 16.