Pathé’s What’s in a Name sells out in Western Europe

Pathé International has been racking up sales on comedy What’s in A Name (Le Prénom), a breakout picture at the French box office, which is expected to top four million spectators by the end of its theatrical career.

Launched by Pathé at Berlin, the picture has sold to Belgium (Alternative Films), Greece (Filmtrade), Italy (Eagle Pictures), Portugal (Lusumondo), Spain (Vertigo), Germany (Warner Bros.), the Netherlands (Lumière), Canada (Seville Pictures), Scandinavia  (Svensk Filmindustri), Brazil (Esfera Filmes), Australia (Madman Entertainment), Israel (Orlando) and Morocco (Golden Film).

Pathé International’s Paris-based sales chief Muriel Sauzay is hoping to close a number of Eastern European and Asian territories during Cannes.

The urbane social comedy, starring Patrick Breul as a successful fortysomething, first-time father who announces he is going to call the child Adophe, has clocked up more than two million admissions since its release on April 25.

Upcoming pictures on the Pathé slate include Denis Villeneuve’s An Enemy, Christophe Gans’ Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et Bête), Nicolas Bary’s The Scapegoat (Au Bonheur des Ogres), starring Berenice Bejo in her first big role since The Artist, and the recently completed Happiness Never Comes Alone (Un Bonheur n’arrive jamais seul)

Sauzay reveals that Gérard Depardieu has signed up to star in Beauty and the Beast alongside the previously announced Léa Seydoux and Vincent Cassel.

The picture, produced by Richard Grandpierre at Eskwad and Pathé co-president Jérôme Seydoux, is due to start shooting this October for delivery end-2013.

Psychological thriller An Enemy is due to start shooting on May 22. Pathé announced on the eve of the market that Melanie Laurent, Sarah Gadon and Isabelle Rossellini have joined Jake Gyllenhaal in the cast.

Pathé will also market premiere James Huth’s romantic comedy Happiness Never Comes Alone (Un Bonheur N’arrive Jamais Seul) in the presence of its co-stars Sophie Marceau and Gad Elmaleh.