The Papal Comedy of Sylvain Estibal, yet carried by the popular Kad Merad, only released this Wednesday on a very limited number of screens. And this, in order to limit the breakage. Explanations.
How to avoid a bay of accuracy? Make a low profile, to spare any promo, to concoct an express trailer, to schedule the film in mid-August, when the spectators generally desert the cinemas the most, and to choose a more than minimal outing (what is called a “technical outing” in the environment).
In any case, this is the strategy used by the production and distribution team of Papamobile from Sylvain Estibal. Comedy, with the very popular Kad Merad in the role of a fraudulent pope kidnapped by a Mexican cartel, was released this August 13 in seven small rooms in the provinces (Avignon, Bagnoles-de-l’Orne, Saverne, Douvaine, Évian-les-Bains and Romans-sur-Isère). No big city therefore, nor a commune in Île-de-France.
In question? A film deemed “failed” by its producer Jean Bréhat (Tessalit Productions, who in the past accompanied feature films like The empire, the truth or My Loute), whose remarks were relayed in the Duck enchaîné.
“It’s a funny comedy, according to most of those who saw it. It happens in the business,” he said.
Limit breakage
Same story on the side of the distributors. “The first assembly in 2024 was not satisfactory, testifies Violaine Barbaroux, who pilots The Jokers Films, in Le Parisien. Then the final assembly turned out to be disappointing, not only for us, and not up to the script, of the director, of his actors and associated promises.”
The Jokers Films even wished, for a time, to get rid purely and simply from comedy by offering it in May to potential new buyers during the Cannes film market. Alas. Again, she did not convince anyone. The distributor, who had already spent around 80,000 euros to buy the scenario, therefore ended up agreeing to take care of his promotion, by creating a poster and a trailer of around thirty seconds (which is very little), but not more.
Anticipating a notorious outcry, the company therefore did the minimum service by released the film on a very low number of rooms (just enough to meet the obligations of the CNC) and by sparingly sparingly marketing. A way, therefore, to limit costs and damage at all costs.
“Absurd journey in our time”
A strategy that its director Sylvain Estibal laments greenly deplores, haloed by the César for best first film in 2011 for The Gaza pig. “[Certains spectateurs] Judged the film extraordinary, crazy, fun, and do not understand that its release is so scratched, “he said in a right of response published on Wednesday.
“It is an absurd journey in our time, approaching sensitive themes, such as religion, drug trafficking and migration with humor and benevolence”
He specifies that the “lack of means” of the film, shot in 24 days in Mexico in 2023, as well as its “nanar” side are completely “assumed” and “claimed”. Above all, the filmmaker underlines the small budget of his fiction (around 1.2 million euros according to him) and the lack of public support, except a minimal envelope of 30,000 euros from the CNC for the development of the scenario. In addition, Kad Merad has mainly put his wages in a shareholder, and will therefore not receive almost nothing.
The latter, who had published at the time an image of the end of the shooting on Instagram, has not yet expressed himself on the subject, but his entourage affirms in the columns of the Parisian that the actor was ready to ensure its promotion.
Rest that Papamobile will be released in theaters in Germany, Belgium and “in other foreign countries”, dixit Sylvain Estibal. The comedy will then be available on OCS in a few months and, ultimately, on Prime Video in 2026. Notice to amateurs.