Cinema: Driven by “The Count of Monte Cristo”, attendance soars in July with more than 18 million admissions

Plus de 18 millions d'entrées en juillet. Midi Libre – JEAN-MICHEL MART

With 18.71 million admissions, attendance in July is up +2.2% compared to 2023. French films are doing well: 45.4% of admissions.

An unexpected success: the French rushed to the cinemas in July, which achieved record attendance with 18.71 million spectators, +2.3% compared to 2023.

The improvement is confirmed, after a gloomy start to the year, recalls the National Center for Cinema (CNC): -7.5% in January, -16.4% in February, -3.6% in March and up to -36.1% in April compared to the same months of 2023, before the trend reversed.

May was good, +14.2%, undoubtedly driven by the release of Un p’tit truc en plus, on May 1st. Artus' film, with 7.7 million admissions, is already the 29th biggest success in French cinema.

June was then very good and we have to go back to 2011 to find the current figure for July.

More than 4.5 million admissions

Cocorico, it is French films that drive attendance, explains the CNC.“First place in the ranking of films for the month is occupied by a French work, “The Count of Monte Cristo”, released on June 28”.

The film by Alexandre de la Patellière and Matthieu Delaporte has now exceeded 4.5 million admissions.

A Little Something Extra, which ranks fifth, continues on its way. French films also carved out a nice "particularly high market share at 45.4% compared to 35.6% for American films".

"Three American productions complete the ranking", specifies the CNC: Inside Out 2, released on June 19, Despicable Me 4 (July 10) and Deadpool& Wolverine, July 24th.

A Difficult Year

“This is the best month of July since 2011 (20.10 million), benefiting from the success of the 2024 Film Festival, which took place from June 30 to July 3 and reached a historic record of 4.55 million admissions in total with three days of more than 1 million admissions”, observes the CNC.

An improvement to be confirmed to save a difficult year: “Attendance in the first seven months of 2024 is barely down compared to that of the first seven months of 2023, with 103.48 million admissions (- 5.5%)”.

The performance is part of a particular year, with the Olympic Games that the most pessimistic expected to empty theaters, and the absence of many American films whose release was postponed by the strike of Hollywood screenwriters and actors that ended at the beginning of the year.

For Éric Marti, director of the admissions analysis company ComScore, interviewed by Le Parisien, the Olympic Games played a marginal role, and affected “especially the opening ceremony and the last days when the finals multiply”.

And the changeable weather played a role in the attractiveness of dark rooms: “The gloomy weather may have played a role, but when it's very hot too, air-conditioned rooms can be attractive. With films that attract, it works.”