@firecrouch:
I actually read somewhere once that France is the biggest market for anime and manga outside of Asia, so I'm not surprised is getting such a big push there.
Here is an article that might interest you:
http://geekout.blogs.cnn.com/2012/01/26/manga-in-the-heart-of-europe/
Here is the important part from the President of VIZ Europe:
Annual manga sales in Japan are about $5 billion, he said, whereas American manga sales are $120 million and Europe and the Middle East combined make $250 million. The popularity does vary by country, but France is by far the leader in European otaku interest, as it brings in 50% of European manga sales.
So yes France is quite big but the USA seems to be nearly as big, at least with the Manga sales.
What I find most interesting is that One Piece somehow managed to surpass Naruto even tough 2009 it was like this:
http://www.actualitte.com/univers-manga/naruto-plus-populaire-que-one-piece-et-fma-en-france-pour-2009-15982.htm
1.Naruto with 250 000 copies(print run) and 2. One Piece with 80 000 copies(print run)
So One Piece somehow managed to TRIPPLE its Manga sales in 2 years to take the Number 1 spot in France:
http://translate.google.com/translate?sl=fr&tl=en&js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.manga-news.com%2Findex.php%2Factus%2F2011%2F05%2F17%2FOne-Piece-n1-des-ventes-en-France
This is an incredible impressive feat. What I would like to know is how did they manage it? Was it the right promotion or word to mouth or an Anime to the right time?
It is nothing special to get your bestselling Manga franchise Movie, especially when your market is as big as the one in France and if they do it right with the promotion and release it might help to give One Piece a further boost especially with how well received the film in Japan was.