Sales of the novel “The Count of Monte Cristo” soar with the success of the film starring Pierre Niney

The phenomenon is classic: the success of a film adaptation often provokes the desire to read the novel that is its origin. And the great classic by Alexandre Dumas, The count of Monte Cristo, can’t avoid it: sales of the two volumes are “boosted” by the eponymous film, directed by Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte.

At 19, Edmond Dantès has everything to be happy. A guaranteed promotion to ship captain, a fiancée, a loving father… Until three envious thugs unite to destroy him. Denounced as a Bonapartist as Louis XVIII begins his reign, he is thrown in prison where he will spend 14 years. Revenge is a dish best served cold and is the ideal ingredient for a great adventure novel. From Marseille to Paris via Rome and the Mediterranean, Alexandre Dumas will tell his crazy story in the form of a serial novel in 1844, as he did with his previous novel, The three Musketeers.

Having become classics of French literature, these two novels have been adapted for the cinema many times. A new Count of Monte Cristothe 24th, this time starring Pierre Niney, had an exceptional release on June 28, two days before the start of the Fête du Cinéma. In nine days of operation, it garnered more than 2 million admissions. It is therefore well on its way to exceeding the objective posted on June 30 on franceinfo by its producer Dimitri Rassam: “Make more entries” that The three Musketeersthe first part of which, dedicated to D’Artagnan, was released in April 2023 and attracted 3.3 million viewers.

The craze is also obviously reflected in book sales. At Folio Classique, which is, in a way, the “official” edition associated with the film, with exclusive posters on the covers of the two volumes, the books have already been reprinted three times since May, “the moment when the buzz started to build”explains Gallimard, that is 35,000 copies offered for volume 1 and 27,000 for volume 2. And a new reprint will be launched in a few days.

“If we make a comparison between June 2023 and June 2024, the ratio is approximately 1,100 copies vs. 11,000 sold per month for volume 1, and 800 copies vs. 10,000 for volume 2.”confides the editor who anticipates “a tenfold increase in sales over the period the film was released compared to the same period last year, the same success as ‘The Three Musketeers’.”

For its part, Le Livre de Poche has also anticipated the impact of the film’s success by creating a higher quality edition than its standard “pocket” with a more colorful cover. The first print run of this new edition is 10,000 copies per volume. In terms of sales, since the film’s release, weekly box office sales have quadrupled.