French Oscars will honour films luring biggest crowds

The César du public will go to Dany Boon’s comedy Raid Dingue and may help counter claims the Césars snobbishly ignore films the public love.

Boon had protested that comedies were neglected when his Bien­venue Chez les Ch’tis received just one nomination, for best screenplay, in 2009, despite an audience of 20million in France, making it the most popular French film of all time here.

Boon threatened to boycott the 2009 awards until being calmed with a pledge to look at a Best Comedy César, that never came.

Film critic Edou­ard Orozco of Première tweeted a reminder of recent lowbrow films that would have won, such as 2016’s Les Tuche 2 – Le rêve américain, about a lottery-winning family going to the US (Hollywood Reporter called it ‘puerile when not just moronic’).