French comedy La Verite 2 is on its way to becoming Warner Bros France's biggest ever hit after selling 2.83 million tickets in seven days (Feb 7-13), second only to historical record holder Taxi 2, which clocked up 3.48 million admissions in its first week.

La Verite 2, the sequel to the 1997 hit which is also directed by Thomas Gilou and produced by Vertigo Films, has already provided Warner's French outpost with its biggest opener in history, with 503,582 admissions, again second only to Taxi 2 with 802,000.

Warner Bros France chief Francis Boepflug is expecting La Verite 2 to pass La Verite's final take of nearly 5 million tickets sold. Warner's previous biggest hits in France are Dead Poets Society (5.5 million admissions) and The Matrix (5 million).

Warner Bros France picked up rights for France, Belgium and Switzerland on La Verite 2 last year, through its French offshoot Production et Edition Cinematographique Francaise (PECF), as the second title in a three-picture deal with French production company Vertigo. PECF had previously bailed out Vertigo by boarding futuristic drama Peut-Etre, directed by Cedric Klapisch, for which the production company had trouble wrapping up financing.

Boepflug also scored a hit last year with Ang Lee's multi-Oscar nominated Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (1.7 million ticket sold), which Warner France boarded at script stage. France is the only territory for which Warner acquired the film.