French B.O. 2024 is dominated by local films As admissions hold steady
According to the National Cinema Centre of France (CNC), France’s box office will grow by 0.5% annually in 2024, with 181.3M admissions and a gross of approximately $1.36B.
The results are encouraging, even though the total admissions for 2024 remain 12.8% below the pre-pandemic level.
It noted that in the past eight months, the gap between pre-pandemic and post-pandemic levels had narrowed to 2.7%. The numbers were also better than those of the U.S., other comparable European markets, like the UK where it reported a drop in receipts of 1%, or Spain, with a fall in receipts by 7% on a year-over-year basis.
The biggest reason for celebration, according to the body, was the performance by local films, which accounted 44% of the admissions, compared with 36.7% of U.S. movies.
The market share of French films has reached its highest level since 2008, when Dany Bouon’s Welcome To The Sticks, and Asterix At The Olympic Games propelled local movies into a 45.5%, far exceeding the average 37.2 % before the pandemic.
The top French films in terms of box office were The Count Of Monte Cristo (10M entries), Beating Hearts (4,7M), Monsieur Aznavour (2.2M), and Ooh La La. Open Season (1.9M), The Marching Band (1,5M), and (1.9M).
Vice-Versa 2 was the best-performing U.S. film, attracting 8.26M viewers and a gross of roughly $62M.
The local arthouse scene also performed well, with Emilia Perez’s When Fall is Coming selling more than 600K tickets.
The top local indie films included Souleymane’s Story, the opening film The Second Act (which attracted around 500,000 viewers each), and low-budget breakouts Golo & Ritchie as well as rural drama Vingt-Deux with over 400,000 entries.
The CNC’s acting president Olivier Henrard said, “Comparing our results to those of other comparable countries is the best evidence of the artistic excellence and industrial excellence of this model of cultural exceptional.”
The diversity and uniqueness in our films – including historical dramas, social comedies and documentaries, as well as musical films and animated films – is what explains a rebound in attendance worldwide and an unrivaled share of the market for our national films.
Top 10 Films at the French Box Office in 2024 (figures up to 29/12/2024).
Title/Admissions
A Little Something Extra, 10.31M (Fr)
The Count Of Monte Cristo, 9.13M (Fr)
Vice-Versa 2, 8.26M (U.S.)
Moana 2, 6.43M (U.S)
Beating Hearts, 4.73M (Fr)
Despicable Me 4, 4.32M (U.S.)
Dune: Part 2, 4.13M (U.S.)
Deadpool & Wolverine, 3.69M (U.S.)
Gladiator II, 2.87M (U.S.)
The Planet of the Apes: The New Kingdom, 2.50M (U.S.)
