In July 2024, French films were represented in international theaters by over 270 titles already in distribution and over 140 new releases, registering a total of 1.5 million admissions and generating €11.8 million in ticket sales.
The Count of Monte Cristo claimed the lead as the French film the most seen abroad in July. The Soul Eater and Jeanne du Barry took second and third position.
# | Title | No. of Admissions | Box Office Revenues (€) | No. of Prints | No. of Countries | Total Admissions | Total Revenues |
1 | The Count of Monte Cristo | 229,493 | 2,482,841 | 394 | 8 | 293,593 | 3,055,093 |
2 | The Soul Eater | 119,701 | 444,957 | 539 | 1 | 191,539 | 723,132 |
3 | Jeanne du Barry | 90,898 | 395,312 | 110 | 5 | 1,953,294 | 10,075,454 |
4 | A Little Something Extra | 67,894 | 695,379 | 77 | 3 | 517,903 | 5,396 512 |
5 | Out of Season | 56,015 | 449,531 | 157 | 5 | 155,798 | 1,327,272 |
6 | Around the World in 80 Days | 35,512 | 164,912 | 0 | 1 | 1,774,388 | 10,656,843 |
7 | Marguerite's Theorem | 31,506 | 283,189 | 216 | 5 | 108,078 | 830,178 |
8 | The Taste of Things | 29,726 | 219,979 | 136 | 10 | 1,408,256 | 11,549,367 |
9 | Sidonie in Japan | 29,673 | 274,863 | 144 | 5 | 91,630 | 709,402 |
10 | Oh La La | 28,471 | 235,745 | 114 | 7 | 711,743 | 6,251,342 |
11 | Zak & Wowo, la légende de Lendarys | 23,855 | 114,570 | 218 | 3 | 60,912 | 242,522 |
12 | Juliette in Spring | 19,977 | 189,389 | 111 | 3 | 21,906 | 215,322 |
13 | Maria Montessori | 19,500 | 182,450 | 100 | 7 | 422,483 | 3 620 436 |
14 | Mars Express | 17,423 | 82,258 | 133 | 3 | 58,291 | 372 129 |
15 | Sweet Little Things | 16,634 | 141,896 | 111 | 2 | 159,295 | 1 433 155 |
16 | And the Party Goes on | 16,551 | 99,064 | 71 | 4 | 80,950 | 536 578 |
17 | Mayhem! | 15,864 | 42,552 | 150 | 1 | 103,659 | 552 757 |
18 | Anatomy of a Fall | 13,798 | 87,956 | 40 | 7 | 4,911,096 | 35 572 786 |
19 | The Second Act | 13,131 | 71,127 | 12 | 4 | 39,599 | 314 111 |
20 | Last Summer | 11,100 | 104,112 | 33 | 5 | 79,894 | 574 015 |
Box office results for French films abroad remain fragile
French films registered 1.5 million admissions and generated €11.8 million in ticket sales in foreign theaters in July. Although one film sold more than 100,000 tickets (three in total), only almost 20,000 more tickets were sold than in June, the month with the lowest monthly attendance since September 2022. The comparison with the levels of July 2023 – 3.5 million tickets sold, including 1.9 million for Ladybug & Cat Noir Awakening and 0.5 million for Jeanne du Barry – and July 2022 – 2.1 million, including 0.5 million for Serial (Bad) Weddings 3 – is even more jarring.
As for the number of films in theaters and new releases, they were in line with those recorded in July 2023 and July 2022.
France retained its position on the world stage, but July witnessed a slowdown in the renewal of the films on offer, particularly in the area of powerhouse titles. The Count of Monte Cristo and A Little Something Extra, among others, both have what it takes to achieve strong international careers, but the timing of their key launches tends towards the fall; hence the releases are not concentrated around the French release date and are more spread out over time. And the gap since the success of Anatomy of a Fall and Autumn and the Black Jaguar, which characterised the start of the year, is widening. Since April, the biggest monthly French success has been a minority-French animated production: Robot Dreams has topped the rankings three times, with the exception of May (Panda Bear in Africa).
As far as films with majority-French financing are concerned, the podium looks completely different. A Little Something Extra, which led the way last month, exited from the top three but broke the 500,000 admissions barrier outside France. For the past three months, the comedy has shone in the top 10 in Belgium, Luxembourg, and Switzerland, where it is also the biggest French success of the current year, with sales of 317,000 (Vertigo, €2.94 million in box office revenues) and 164,000 (Praesens, €2.18 million) tickets respectively. The crown was taken by the aforementioned Count of Monte Cristo, which made its first appearance in the June top 5. 300,000 foreign moviegoers have already discovered it on the big screen, including 150,000 Belgian & ルクセンブルク moviegoers (Alternative, €1.63 million), 60,000 Swiss (Pathé, €0.89 million), and 23,000 Bulgarians (Pro, €0.16 million). The film is well established in the weekly top 5 in all three markets. By chance of the release calendar, Jeanne du Barry returned to the top 3, buoyed by fine performances in メキシコ (Canibal, 74,000 admissions and €0.33 million) and コロンビア (Babilla, 16,000 and €0.06 million): it thus exceeded 2 million tickets sold internationally. Chosen by almost 200,000 Russians (Global, €0.72 million), a newcomer even took second place in July's top 10: The Soul Eater. Other notable titles include Oh La La (10th), Out of Season (5th), and Marguerite's Theorem (7th), which respectively racked up over 700,000, 150,000, and 100,000 admissions outside France, a threshold soon to be reached by Sidonie in Japan (9th). The Taste of Things is the only film in the top ten to be released in 10 markets.
Belgium, Germany, and Russia: the top three territories in July 2024
Europe remained the leading geographic zone for French cinema (69.9% of monthly admissions), with the Central and Eastern region offering twice as many admissions as in June thanks to The Soul Eater and Monte Cristo. The other dynamic zone was Latin America (+71%), with Jeanne du Barry accounting for half the score. As for North America and Asia, while their market indicators were green the previous month, they shifted to red in July. Once again, the minority-French film Robot Dreams was the only French title to attract more than 100,000 moviegoers outside Europe. The top trio of territories by admissions changed, with Belgium & Luxembourg, Germany, and Russia joining the list. 4 foreign territories (4 in June, 8 in May, 7 in April, 14 in March, 13 in February and 6 in January) offered more than 100,000 admissions each to French productions in July 2024 (the top trio, plus Mexico).
Comedy, adventure, and drama took center stage
In July, comedy/drama retained its crown as the favorite genre internationally (0.4 million viewers, 27.1% of the monthly total), but lost a quarter of its June audience. Whereas, the two genres that took second and third place in the rankings attracted more viewers: action/adventure/police/thriller (24.6%) and drama (23.0%), as did biopic/war/history (8.2%). Majority-French productions (72.4% of total admissions) and French-language productions (82.0%) continued to account for the lion's share of the month's admissions. On the other hand, it was minority-French financed and foreign-language productions that saw a drop in attendance (-35.8% and -4.6% respectively). Concluding this report, over 0.3 million admissions went to arthouse films (21.4% of the monthly total), led by Jeanne du Barry, Marguerite's Theorem, and The Taste of Things.
> This report can be downloaded in PDF format below (French version only).
> This report is based on results recorded on August 7, 2024. Since our statistics for film releases are continuously being updated, the graphics generated automatically on our website will differ from the chart featured in this article.
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Unifrance - Analyse mensuelle - Juillet 2024