cinema attendance on the rise in France in 2024

Attendance at cinemas in France was “a global exception” in 2024: it has increased, counting more than 181 million admissions, almost half of which are for French films, announced the National Center for Cinema and Animated Images (CNC) this Tuesday, December 31 in its annual report .

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Three French films have accumulated nearly 25 million admissions: “A Little Something Extra” by Artus (top of the 2024 box office with 10.3 million admissions), “The Count of Monte Cristo” by Alexandre de La Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte (second, 9.1 million) and “l’Amour ouf” by Gilles Lellouche (fifth, 4.7 million).

“Such a figure had not been reached since 2011, the year of “Intouchables” [d’Olivier Nakache et Eric Toledano] and “Nothing to declare” [de Dany Boon] »commented the CNC in a press release.

Attendance “driven by national cinema”

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 “Bienvenue chez les Ch’tis” and “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).

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France is thus a « double exception » world, welcomed Olivier Henrard, interim president of the CNC, at the microphone of France-Inter. First, it is “the only country in which more people than last year pushed the door of a cinema”or around a million more, he stressed.

Then, this attendance “is driven by national cinema”he continued, referring to the 44.4% market share of tricolor films. “Apart from the United States (37.6%), no country in the world comes close to this figurehe stressed. Among our large European neighbors, we navigate between 15 and 25%. »

“12.8% below the average” before Covid

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 admissions), “Moana 2” (6.4 million) and “Despicable Me 4” (4.3 million), as well as the films “Dune: Part II” (4.1 million), “Deadpool & Wolverine” (3.7 million), “Gladiator II » (2.9 million) and “Planet of the Apes: The New Kingdom” (2.5 million).

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Certainly, overall, cinema attendance in France remains at “12.8% below average” before Covid. “But in the last months of 2024, we almost returned to pre-pandemic figures”noted Olivier Henrard, hoping that the trend will be confirmed in 2025.