Parasite, Squid Game, Barbarians, Das Boot, Kingdom, The Platform, Money Heist, Rogue City, The Killing, Babylon Berlin, have all recently hit the headlines as smash-hit foreign language movies and shows that have found success with English-speaking audiences.
Before them, the likes of Pan’s Labyrinth, The Host, Ip Man, Les Miserables, Oldboy, Roma, The Raid, Train to Busan, Broken Embraces, and City of God, among others, managed to achieve low-key success, but now it feels like a new age of watching foreign-language films in the UK, Ireland, and US.
The many, many different streaming services allow for much easier access to these shows and movies – if you have the right subscription – and the next hit might just be France’s upcoming The Three Musketeers two-part movie.
A legendary tale with famous faces
The tale of The Three Musketeers is as legendary as they come, with everyone knowing that its core is about heroism and comradery. It’s why the creatives of online casino gambling at Paddy’s opted to produce the Musketeers: Heroic Spins slot for the Original Slots section. Anyone who sees the tile knows that the game seeks to invoke a sense of adventure, bravery, and an ultimate prize for the efforts of the hero.
Naturally, the slot features the three musketeers and the use of their rapiers to pick your bonuses, which go into the Heroic Spins feature. It’s because the story is so well-known, at least in premise, that The Three Musketeers continue to be popular to this day. Hollywood’s even had a couple of cracks at the story. In 1993, Charlie Sheen, Kiefer Sutherland, and Tim Curry starred, with Orlando Bloom and Milla Jovovich taking over in 2011 to make $140 million at the worldwide box office.
Along with the story being a classic on the big screen – let alone as a novel from 1844 – the new movie being made in its native French will feature plenty of actors who have earned names for themselves in English-language productions. Headlining the cast is Eva Green, who starred in Casino Royale, Penny Dreadful, Sin City: A Dame to Kill for, 300: Rise of an Empire, and Camelot.
Joining Green is Vincent Cassel (Black Swan, Westworld, Jason Bourne, Ocean’s Twelve, Elizabeth), Vicky Krieps (Hanna, Colonia, The Survivor, A Most Wanted Man), Louis Garrel (Little Women), and Jacob Fortune-Lloyd (The Queen’s Gambit, See How They Run, Medici). The French production from Pathé and Chapter 2 has a great cast and draws from a classic story, giving it a lot of potential.
Two-part movie with quick releases
According to the figures collected by GWI’s foreign-language media piece, 76 percent of Gen-Z and Millennials watch foreign-language TV shows and films. Over the last couple of years, looking at the productions that have commanded search trends and subsequent click-bait articles and explainers, most are watching series. Viewers seem to want more than a two-hour experience. Still, movies do continue to appeal.
The Three Musketeers will be a two-part movie, akin to what’s being done with Dune, with The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan being the first to release on April 5, 2023. Unlike Dune, however, the second part (The Three Musketeers: Milady) will release on December 13, 2023, so as not to lose the ever-shortening attention spans of audiences. Being so close, a UK and Ireland platform could wait on the two and release them at the same time to tap into the binge mentality.
Being a French production derived from an adventure novel by a French author, you’d assume that sticking as close to the source material as possible would be required. However, 2023’s The Three Musketeers will also weave in a new character, Hannibal. This article from Collider details that Hannibal will be based on Louis Anniaba – who was the first black musketeer in history – and will be played by Ralph Amoussou.
By retelling a legendary tale, mixing in a real-life historical figure, utilizing a novel format, and stuffing the cast with known talents, The Three Musketeers movies of 2023 might just be able to become foreign-language hits on these shores.
Problem solver. Incurable bacon specialist. Falls down a lot. Coffee maven. Communicator.
