The return of the French to cinemas continued in 2023

Relief in French movie theaters: the return of spectators continues at a good pace after the Covid pandemic, with 180.76 million admissions in 2023, an increase in attendance of 18.9% compared to 2022, according to the CNC on Tuesday.

“Attendance in French theaters in 2023 confirms the powerful dynamics initiated last year,” observes Dominique Boutonnat, president of the National Center for Cinema and the Animated Image, in a press release.

While the year that has just ended represents a new rebound compared to the 152.02 million admissions in 2022 (+59.2% compared to 2021), the results remain 13.1% lower than the average for the years 2017 to 2019, which were among the best in fifty years for French cinema (207.95 M).

France, where health restrictions in theaters were lifted in 2023, “has achieved the best recovery among comparable countries thanks to the diversity of works offered, particularly French, and the commitment of our movie theaters”, also notes Dominique Boutonnat.

The top 5 most-watched films are dominated by American blockbusters (“Super Mario Bros,” “Barbie,” “Avatar: The Way of Water,” which have exceeded 5 million admissions, and “Oppenheimer”), but two French productions have exceeded 4 million: “Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom” (4th in the ranking with 4.45 million) and “Alibi.com 2” (6th with 4.18 million).

“Super Mario Bros, the movie,” directed by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic, was the biggest success, with 7.15 million admissions since its release on April 5.

“What really worked were the films that had very clear narrative propositions,” Eric Marti, a specialist at Comscore, audience analysis company, Friday.

The market share of French films remains at 39.8% (71.9 million admissions), compared to 41.3% of American films (74.7 million).

“We are one of the countries with the highest market share for local cinema, far ahead of the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain or Italy”, the CNC emphasizes to AFP.

Impacted by the health crisis and then in 2023 by the strike of screenwriters and actors in Hollywood, the American offer has however “not found the volume of releases of the pre-Covid years with 81 films (68 in 2022), against 127 films on average each year over the period 2017 to 2019”, recalls the body in its press release.

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With the two parts of “The Three Musketeers” (nearly 5 million cumulative admissions), the children's animated film “Miraculous” (1.6 million), the Palme d'Or winner “Anatomy of a Fall (1.2 million) and “Tirailleurs” with Omar Sy (1.1 million) among the most-watched French films, the past year has been “enjoying since the diversity of French successes shows that all audiences have returned to movie theaters,” adds Eric Marti.

In detail, attendance equaled its pre-health crisis level in April (18.5 million admissions, +0.1% compared to the 2017-2019 average) and came even closer in May (11.2 million, -2.5%). The summer was particularly good, driven by the simultaneous releases of the highly anticipated “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” (13.8 M, +9.3% in July). The rest was “more difficult with levels around 20% lower than before the crisis, particularly due to the Rugby World Cup”, according to the CNC.

In a context of high inflation, the Printemps du cinéma and Fête du cinéma pricing operations “met with great success with two weeks of more than 3.5 million admissions”.

For comparison, at the end of November 2023, Germany recorded an attendance of 83 million admissions (-14% compared to the 2017-2019 average), Italy 63 million (-22%) and Spain 68 million (-24%), according to Comscore estimates shared by the CNC. The American market is still behind by 21% of its revenues and the United Kingdom by 13%, the body finally notes.

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