Good news! Attendance at cinemas in France was “a global exception” in 2024: it (slightly) increased, counting more than 181 million admissions, almost half of which were for French films, the CNC announced on Tuesday in its annual report. The sector had already recorded 181 million admissions in 2023.
Three French films, released in particular this summer, have accumulated nearly 25 million admissions: A little something extra by Artus (topping the 2024 box office with 10.3 million admissions), Le Comte de Monte Cristo of Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte (second, 9.1 million) and Love phew by Gilles Lellouche (fifth, 4.7 million).
“Such a figure had not been reached since 2011, the year ofUntouchables (by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, Editor’s note) and Nothing to declare (by Dany Boon, Editor’s note),” commented the National Center for Cinema and Animated Images (CNC).
The share of French films returns to records
Beyond these three hits, the market share of French films amounts to a total of 44.4% in 2024.
This is the “best level” since 2008, the year of Welcome to the Ch'tis et Asterix at the Olympic Games (45.8%), tied with 2014 (year of What have we done to the Good Lord? and its 12 million entries).
France is thus a global “double exception”, welcomed Olivier Henrard, interim president of the CNC, on France Inter. First, it is “the only country in which more people than last year have pushed the door of a cinema”, or around a million more, he underlined. Then, this attendance “is driven by national cinema”, he continued.
“Apart from the United States (37.6%), no country in the world comes close to this figure (44.4%; Editor’s note),” he stressed. “Among our large European neighbors, we navigate between 15 and 25%. »
Below the pre-Covid average
In 2024 in France, in addition to the three French hits, all the other films in the top 10 are American: the three cartoons Vice-Versa 2 (8.3 million entries), Vaiana 2 (6.4 million) and Despicable Me 4 (4.3 million), as well as films Dune: part two (4,1 millions), Deadpool & Wolverine (3,7 millions), Gladiator II (2.9 million) and Planet of the Apes: The New Kingdom (2,5 millions).
Certainly, overall, theater attendance in France remains “12.8% below the average” before Covid. “But in the last months of 2024, we almost returned to the figures before the pandemic,” noted Olivier Henrard, hoping that the trend will be confirmed in 2025.
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