Asterix: The Mansions of the Gods

Unable to beat the Gauls with swords, Caesar tries something else: he clears the forest beside the village and builds a luxury housing complex called the Mansions of the Gods. The plan is simple. Roman tenants move in, the villagers start trading with them and the resistance dissolves by itself. Asterix and Obelix fight it, and in the end the mansions come down. Louis Clichy directed, with Alexandre Astier as co-director and writer. The source is the Goscinny and Uderzo album of the same name. It is the first Asterix film animated in 3D. The budget was 31 million euros. It opened in France on 696 screens, took 7.64 million dollars in its first week to finish first at the box office, and went past 51 million worldwide. Reviews praised the voice work, particularly Laurent Lafitte, Lorant Deutsch and Alain Chabat. The Hollywood Reporter wrote that Astier and Clichy manage to make the material at once enjoyable and meaningful while providing slick, streamlined visuals. Philippe Rombi's score was nominated for an IFMCA Award. Who it is for: readers of the comic and anyone looking for animation to watch as a family. Who it is not for: viewers attached to Uderzo's hand-drawn world. The move to 3D visibly changes how the characters look.