Cinema can be “cocorico”. With two films around 10 million admissions – A little something extra et Le Comte de Monte Cristo –, and four in the top 10 of the biggest hits of the year if we add Love phew et The Three Musketeers: Milady (second part of the saga), French production has never been doing so well. “We have to go back ten years, with What have we done to the good Lord, to find a French film at such a level, but two, it’s very exceptional, agrees Cécile Lacoue, director of studies at the CNC. In 2023, the biggest French successes were around 4 million admissions. »
However, the year had started badly for cinemas with a catastrophic first four months. In question, the absence of American productions, the final repercussion of the strike in Hollywood, and lower performances for these French comedies with proven recipes – Dog and cat, Cocorico, Retirement home 2 –, usually big providers of young audiences. And then, on May 1st, a film came out that no one saw coming: A little something extra. Directed by Artus, this “feel-good movie” with a modest budget, where the actor and comedian infiltrates a summer camp for disabled people, is driving the counters crazy. More than a million entries in the first week and a phenomenon that continues.
From then on, the machine takes off. The cinema festival, from June 30 to July 3, records a record attendance (4.65 million) and Pathé, which anticipates the release of the Comte de Monte Cristoscheduled for the fall, is taking advantage of the wave. The two films are at the top of the bill throughout the summer. “Ten million admissions, that means more than 15% of the population, it’s enormous, it affects the entire territory and it helps to further anchor cinema as the primary cultural practice of the French,” notes Marc-Olivier Sebbag, general delegate of the National Federation of French Cinemas (FNCF).
Successes with very diverse profiles
In the fall, the craze continues. Despite the strong comeback of American productions, French films are more than doing well. Emilia Perezby Jacques Audiard, records more than a million entries, Mr Aznavour, 2 million, the films of François Ozon, When autumn comes, and Daniel Auteuil, The Wirebring together nearly 700,000 spectators each.
Also, The Story of Souleymane creates a surprise with 500,000 entries, and A fanfare, released on November 27, has already exceeded one million. “The good news is that all audiences have returned to the cinema, and frequently, analyzes Éric Marti, from the company Comscore, specialist in attendance analysis. Films that work tend to last over time, which means that word of mouth has been established again. Cinema has once again become a topic of conversation.»
The market share of French cinema has never been so high. At the end of November, it represented 46% of attendance compared to 39.9% for American films, while it was around 35% before the Covid-19 epidemic. A result, however, to be put into perspective. With the pandemic and then the strike in Hollywood, American releases became less frequent.
Above all, our unique cinema financing system guarantees a high level of local productions. «The strength of French cinema is its abundant offering, which has no equivalent in other European markets and contributes through its richness and diversity to filling theatersconfirms Cécile Lacoue. In 2023, more than 400 French films will be released in theaters, compared to 86 (films) Americans. The good news is to see that some attract a large audience, particularly young people. »
While it is still early to draw conclusions, something has undoubtedly changed. “Before Covid-19, we went to the cinema, today we go to see films, explains Eric Marti. Faced with the multitude of targeted proposals existing on the platforms, cinema must respond with something else. You need stories, to surprise, to be ambitious in the narration and the means. When we see Le Comte de Monte Cristowe immediately know that we are dealing with a “instant classic” as the Americans say. »
Fewer films but more expensive
An observation which seems to validate the strategy undertaken by Pathé: producing fewer but better films and, above all, with more resources, 72 million euros for the two parts of the Three Musketeers43 million for the only Comte de Monte Cristo. « Attentionhowever tempers Ardavan Safaee, president of Pathé films, We must not think that we have found the miracle recipe. With each film, everything comes into play. But with this strategy, we managed to attract a young audience who no longer came to see French films. Our ambition is to turn the discourse around: it’s French, therefore it’s rubbish.»
A way, too, of reconnecting with the ambition of big-budget French films of the 1990s, carried at the time by Luc Besson or Jean-Pierre Jeunet. It is fully assumed by a new generation of producers like Hugo Sélignac (Love phew, Their children after them) or Dimitri Rassam (The Three Musketeers), determined to compete with the Americans without imitating them. “We are certainly not trying to copy them; anyway, we don’t have the financial meansconfirms Ardavan Safaee. We must look for something else, draw from European culture and imagination, from our way of telling stories and our technical and artistic know-how to intimately touch the French public. »
A Dumas franchise?
Successful bet with Dumas. A third part of Three Musketeers is expected for 2027, and the universe will be available in two series for Disney+, like the American Marvel franchises. Pathé also announces a diptych on General De Gaulle around the Liberation of Paris, directed by Antonin Baudry, as well as a film on General Dumas, father of the writer and first mixed-race officer, The Black Devil, by Ladj Ly. For its part, StudioCanal will produce Chien 51 by Cédric Jimenez, adapted from the book by Laurent Gaudé, and announced a new version of Misérables by Victor Hugo, adapted by Fred Cavayé.
Ambitions possible thanks to the arrival on the market of new financiers, such as streaming platforms, forced since 2021 by a European directive to invest in local production, but also thanks to a strong movement of concentration in the production sector . Mediawan, created by Pierre-Antoine Capton, Xavier Niel and Matthieu Pigasse, one of the heavyweights in audiovisual production in Europe, is a shareholder in the companies of Hugo Sélignac (Chi-Fou-Mi productions) and Dimitri Rassam (Chapter 2 ).
The latter has also just announced the creation of a fund (which includes Pathé and Rodolphe Saadé’s CMA Média), Yapluka, to finance projects “European ambition”. Starting with an adaptation in seven films (!) of Cursed kings, performed by the winning duo of Comte de Monte CristoMatthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière. What should Hollywood worry about?
—
The top 10 biggest hits in theaters
1. A little something extra, d’Artus, 10.8 million entries.
2. The Comte de Monte-Cristo, by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de La Patellière, 9.3 million.
3. Vice-versa 2, de Kelsey Mann, 8,4 millions.
4. Love phew, by Gilles Lellouche, 4.6 million.
5. Despicable Me 4, by Chris Renaud and Patrick Delage, 4.4 million.
6. Dune: second part, by Denis Villeneuve, 4.09 million.
7. Vaiana 2, from David G. Derrick Jr, Jason Hand and Dana Ledoux Miller, 4.08 million.
8. Wonka, by Paul King, 3.74 million.
9. Deadpool&Wolverine, de Shawn Levy, 3,71 millions.
10. The Three Musketeers: Milady, by Martin Bourboulon, 2.58 million.
