The return of the French to cinemas continued in 2023

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

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

If the year which has just ended represents a new rebound compared to the 152.02 million admissions for 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 cinemas were lifted in 2023, “achieved the best recovery among comparable countries thanks to the diversity of the works offered, particularly French, and the commitment of our cinemas of cinema”, also remarks Dominique Boutonnat.

The top 5 most viewed films give pride of place to American blockbusters (“Super Mario Bros”, “Barbie”, “Avatar: The Way of Water”, which exceed 5 million admissions, and “Oppenheimer”) but two French productions exceed 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. 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 which had very clear narrative propositions”, Eric Marti, specialist at Comscore, an audience analysis company, told AFP on Friday.

The market share of French films remains at 39.8% (71.9 million admissions), compared to 41.3% for 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”, underlines the CNC from the AFP.

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

With the two parts of “The Three Musketeers” (nearly 5 million cumulative admissions), the animated children's film “Miraculous” (1.6 million), the Palme d'Or “Anatomy of a Fall (1 .2 million) or even “Tirailleurs” with Omar Sy (1.1 million) among the most viewed French films, the past year is “pleasant since the diversity of French successes shows that all audiences have returned to theaters cinema”, 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 M, -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 aftermath was “more difficult with levels around 20% lower than those before the crisis, in particular due to the Rugby World Cup”, according to the CNC.

In a context of high inflation, the pricing operations of the Printemps du cinéma and the Fête du cinéma have “encountered 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 entries (-14% compared to the 2017-2019 average), Italy 63 million ( -22%) and Spain by 68 million (-24%), according to Comscore estimates shared by the CNC. The American market is still lagging behind by 21% of its revenues and the United Kingdom by 13%, finally notes the body.

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