Posted online on the platform on Saturday at 2:30 p.m., this film of almost 2 hours and 30 minutes, entitled “Kaizen”, has also already generated more than 95,000 comments.
More than 11 million views in 24 hours: “The counters are going crazy” for the documentary by web star Inoxtag which retraces his ascent of Everest, testifying to a craze “exceptional”a YouTube spokesperson told AFP on Sunday. Posted online Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on the platform owned by Google, where it is number one in trends, this film of nearly 2 hours and 30 minutes, entitled “Kaizen”, has also already generated more than 95,000 comments, often dithyrambic, and collected more than a million “likes”. “Very exceptional figures which show the enthusiasm for this documentary”according to the YouTube spokesperson contacted by AFP. This is “certainly” d’“one of the best launches in history” of the platform in France, added the same source, in the absence of a precise classification.
The 22-year-old YouTuber, followed by more than 20 million subscribers on social networks, also did well in theaters by attracting some 340,000 spectators – including 40,000 abroad (Belgium, Quebec, Morocco, etc.) – to the previews of his film on Friday evening and Saturday morning, according to figures given to AFP on Sunday by its distributor, MK2. For content put online for free a few hours later, “This is unprecedented”commented Nathanaël Karmitz, one of the leaders of MK2, to AFP, praising “the desire for collective experience” of the public and a film that “deserves to be seen on the big screen”.
Also read“It was one of my biggest dreams, and I did it”: Inoxtag confides in Le Figaro after his ascent of Everest
A film acclaimed by Inoxtag fans
This documentary also adapts “very good for viewing on television” with family, says the YouTube spokesperson. Real name Inès Benazzouz, Inoxtag has more than 8 million subscribers on YouTube, 6.1 million on TikTok and 5.6 million on Instagram. “Kaizen” traces the challenge of this mountaineering novice to climb Everest, the highest peak in the world (over 8,800 meters), by preparing for it in one year. In a goodbye video to his fans in early April, Inoxtag said he would disconnect from all his networks while he completed his climb. Many media outlets had speculated on the success of his challenge.
His film, which also shows the damage caused by overtourism, pollution and the risks associated with this expedition, was acclaimed by his fans, but also drew some criticism in the press and on social media. Release particularly deplored the invisibility of the work of the Sherpas, while the mountaineer and photographer Pascal Tournaire pointed out in The Team a movie “very self-centered” without real «exploit»according to him.
