# Taxi (1998 film)
**Taxi** is a 1998 French action comedy directed by Gérard Pirès, written and produced by [Luc Besson](https://www.edgepedia.org/luc-besson), about a speed-obsessed [Marseille](https://www.edgepedia.org/marseille) taxi driver who strikes a deal with a police officer to help catch a gang of German bank robbers. Released in France on 8 April 1998, it drew roughly 6.5 million admissions at home and launched one of the most commercially successful franchises in French cinema.[1](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm=17106.html) • [2](https://www.jpbox-office.com/mobile/fichfilm.php?id=3040) • [3](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/art%20of%20action%3Cbr%3E%20celebrating%20the%20real%20action%20stars%20of%20cinema/2024/10/28/taxi/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / writer | Gérard Pirès directed; Luc Besson wrote the screenplay and produced[1](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm=17106.html) |
| Release | France, 8 April 1998; runtime listed as 86 minutes by the BFI and Irish Film Institute[2](https://www.jpbox-office.com/mobile/fichfilm.php?id=3040) • [3](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/art%20of%20action%3Cbr%3E%20celebrating%20the%20real%20action%20stars%20of%20cinema/2024/10/28/taxi/) • [4](https://ifi.ie/film/taxi/) |
| French admissions | About 6.5 million (6,522,121 cumulative), one of the year's top films[2](https://www.jpbox-office.com/mobile/fichfilm.php?id=3040) • [5](https://cdm21054.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/api/collection/IR/id/5780/download) |
| Budget and receipts | Budget about 8.1 million euros; worldwide gross about $44.5 million[2](https://www.jpbox-office.com/mobile/fichfilm.php?id=3040) |
| Lead cast | Samy Naceri (Daniel Morales), Frédéric Diefenthal (Émilien Coutant-Kerbalec), Marion Cotillard (Lilly Bertineau)[6](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0152930/) |
| Music | Composed by Akhenaton of the Marseille rap group IAM, the group's first film score[1](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm=17106.html) |
| Awards | César for Best Sound (1999); nominated for Best First Work and Best Music Written for a Film[7](https://ifann.net/wiki/movie/taxi) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
The setting is Marseille. Daniel ([Samy Naceri](https://www.edgepedia.org/samy-naceri)), a former pizza delivery man with a passion for speed, now drives a taxi, a modified [Peugeot 406](https://www.edgepedia.org/peugeot-406) that lets him outrun even the most sophisticated speed cameras; one source describes a run from the city's port to Marignane airport in fourteen minutes.[4](https://ifi.ie/film/taxi/) • [8](https://www.cinema-francais.fr/les_films/films_p/films_pires_gerard/taxi.htm) When he is caught speeding by Émilien (Frédéric Diefenthal), a police officer who has failed his driving test for the eighth time, Daniel accepts a deal: he keeps his license if he helps Émilien track down a gang of German bank robbers who empty the city's banks and escape in powerful Mercedes cars.[4](https://ifi.ie/film/taxi/)
The pursuit is helped along by an unlikely supporting cast, including Émilien's doting mother, Daniel's girlfriend Lilly ([Marion Cotillard](https://www.edgepedia.org/marion-cotillard)), and a squad of pizza delivery riders, who together help the two collaborators corner the gang.[4](https://ifi.ie/film/taxi/) In the ending, the robbers are trapped on a pillar of a highway bridge under construction, and Daniel and Émilien are decorated; Daniel regains his taxi only by agreeing to race in formula 3 under police colors.[8](https://www.cinema-francais.fr/les_films/films_p/films_pires_gerard/taxi.htm)
### Franchise and remake
The film kick-started a franchise that grew to five theatrical entries: *Taxi 2* (2000), *Taxi 3* (2003), *Taxi 4* (2007), and *Taxi 5* (2018), the middle three directed by Gérard Krawczyk and the fifth by Franck Gastambide.[12](https://www.erea86.fr/version2/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/N%C2%B0100.pdf) The series as a whole drew more than 27 million spectators in France and worldwide and led to the founding of the studio EuropaCorp.[13](https://www.femis.fr/IMG/pdf/fonteilles_lauriane_me_moire_version_corrige_e.pdf) An American remake, *Taxi* (2004), starring [Queen Latifah](https://www.edgepedia.org/queen-latifah) and [Jimmy Fallon](https://www.edgepedia.org/jimmy-fallon) with the same producer, Luc Besson, transposed the cop-and-cabbie setup to New York; reviewers received it far less warmly than the original.[14](https://www.gamesradar.com/taxi-review/)
## Production
Luc Besson wrote the script, reportedly turning it out during pre-production discussions for *The Fifth Element*, and produced the film.[3](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/art%20of%20action%3Cbr%3E%20celebrating%20the%20real%20action%20stars%20of%20cinema/2024/10/28/taxi/) The project met resistance: several better-known actors, including [Patrick Bruel](https://www.edgepedia.org/patrick-bruel), Vincent Perez, Olivier Martinez, and [Yvan Attal](https://www.edgepedia.org/yvan-attal), were contacted for the two lead roles and all declined, so Besson and Pirès cast the then little-known Frédéric Diefenthal and Samy Naceri.[1](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm=17106.html) The studio Gaumont had doubts about the project, and the film was ultimately the first produced by Leeloo Productions, the company created by Besson that later became EuropaCorp.[9](https://voyage-en-liberte.fr/boxoffice/Taxi.php)
The film was originally planned to be shot in Paris but was moved to Marseille, which the production judged easier for obtaining permits for the car stunts.[10](https://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle=1000211431.html) Pirès, who had directed eight features before a motorcycle accident forced a temporary retirement, had re-emerged as one of France's most successful directors of advertisements, notably car commercials, and his experience shaped the film's driving sequences.[3](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/art%20of%20action%3Cbr%3E%20celebrating%20the%20real%20action%20stars%20of%20cinema/2024/10/28/taxi/)
**Stunts and music.** The action was staged with practical effects rather than digital tricks; the Irish Film Institute notes that the cars really do career down narrow streets at over 120 mph.[4](https://ifi.ie/film/taxi/) A chase through the rue du Panier, a very narrow Marseille street, involving two gray Mercedes E300s, the Peugeot 406 taxi, and the tracking car required about thirty extra assistants on set.[1](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm=17106.html) Besson contacted the Marseille rap group IAM for a title song, and the group went on to compose the entire score, its first for a film.[1](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm=17106.html)
## Reception and box office
The film was a surprise hit in France, drawing a domestic audience of over 6 million and ranking among the top four films of the year.[3](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/art%20of%20action%3Cbr%3E%20celebrating%20the%20real%20action%20stars%20of%20cinema/2024/10/28/taxi/) • [5](https://cdm21054.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/api/collection/IR/id/5780/download) Against a budget of about 8.1 million euros, it grossed about $44.2 million internationally and $268,254 in the United States, for a total near $44.5 million.[2](https://www.jpbox-office.com/mobile/fichfilm.php?id=3040) Its success guaranteed an almost instant sequel, *Taxi 2* (2000), directed by Gérard Krawczyk, which sold over 10 million tickets in France.[3](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/art%20of%20action%3Cbr%3E%20celebrating%20the%20real%20action%20stars%20of%20cinema/2024/10/28/taxi/) • [5](https://cdm21054.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/api/collection/IR/id/5780/download)
Critical response was mixed. The Irish Film Institute called it an enjoyable action caper, first and foremost a comedy, mounted with impressive technical skill and more enjoyable than Besson's more prestigious productions.[4](https://ifi.ie/film/taxi/) A contemporary [Sight and Sound](https://www.edgepedia.org/sight-and-sound) review, while crediting Pirès with superbly choreographed stunts at genuinely high speeds, judged the film a lacklustre hybrid whose principal significance lay in the French public's acceptance of a young non-white French actor, Samy Naceri, in the lead of a major box-office hit.[3](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/art%20of%20action%3Cbr%3E%20celebrating%20the%20real%20action%20stars%20of%20cinema/2024/10/28/taxi/) Time Out found the plot thin and the characters flimsy but praised the skillful stunts, saved largely for a 1970s-style final chase through Marseille.[11](https://www.timeout.com/movies/taxi-5) At the 1999 [César Awards](https://www.edgepedia.org/cesar-awards) the film won Best Sound and was nominated for Best First Work and Best Music Written for a Film.[7](https://ifann.net/wiki/movie/taxi)
## References
1. [Taxi, Film 1998, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/film/fichefilm_gen_cfilm=17106.html)
2. [Taxi (1998), JP Box-Office](https://www.jpbox-office.com/mobile/fichfilm.php?id=3040)
3. [Taxi, BFI Southbank Programme Notes (Michael Witt, Sight and Sound, December 1999)](https://bfidatadigipres.github.io/art%20of%20action%3Cbr%3E%20celebrating%20the%20real%20action%20stars%20of%20cinema/2024/10/28/taxi/)
4. [Taxi, Irish Film Institute](https://ifi.ie/film/taxi/)
5. [Academic study of the Taxi series and The Fifth Element](https://cdm21054.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/api/collection/IR/id/5780/download)
6. [Taxi (1998), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0152930/)
7. [Taxi (1998), iFANN](https://ifann.net/wiki/movie/taxi)
8. [Taxi, Cinéma Français](https://www.cinema-francais.fr/les_films/films_p/films_pires_gerard/taxi.htm)
9. [Taxi, box office en France](https://voyage-en-liberte.fr/boxoffice/Taxi.php)
10. [Pourquoi personne ne voulait faire le premier film Taxi, AlloCiné](https://www.allocine.fr/article/fichearticle_gen_carticle=1000211431.html)
11. [Taxi 1998, directed by Gérard Pirès, Time Out](https://www.timeout.com/movies/taxi-5)
12. [Taxi : les films (série)](https://www.erea86.fr/version2/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/N%C2%B0100.pdf)
13. [Mémoire on the Taxi franchise, La Fémis](https://www.femis.fr/IMG/pdf/fonteilles_lauriane_me_moire_version_corrige_e.pdf)
14. [Taxi review, GamesRadar+](https://www.gamesradar.com/taxi-review/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Franchise and series entries as standalone works › Action, thriller, and crime series film entries › Entries released in the 1990s*
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