The French box office had a remarkable 19% increase in 2023, generating an estimated €1.3 billion ($1.4 billion) from 181.2 million tickets sold, as reported by Comscore France.
An Evolving Landscape
Unlike the previous year, where American movies dominated the top 10, the box office success in 2023 was a result of the perfect blend of Hollywood blockbusters and French productions. Notably, Pathé’s big-budget comedy adventure inspired by the famous French comics, “Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom,” sold slightly more tickets than Christopher Nolan’s epic “Oppenheimer” from Universal.
French Films Shine Bright
French cinema also made its mark in the top 10 list. Studiocanal’s “Alibi.com 2,” the second installment of Philippe Laucheau’s comedy series, and Pathé’s “The Three Musketeers: d’Artagnan,” the first part of an adventure saga based on Alexandre Dumas’ classic novel, both secured a position among the top grossers. The three highest-grossing films in France for 2023 were Universal, Illumination, and Nintendo’s animated video game adaptation, “The Super Mario Bros. Movie”; Warner Bros.’ “Barbie” directed by Greta Gerwig, and Disney and 20th Century Studios’ “Avatar: The Way of Water” helmed by James Cameron.
A Healthy Box Office Market
The French box office market showed signs of a healthy trajectory, with the top 30 films accounting for 44.6% of ticket sales, compared to 48.3% in the previous year. Eric Marti from Comscore France highlighted that “the theatrical business in France has recovered from the pandemic faster than most other countries in Europe and abroad.” However, when compared with pre-pandemic figures between 2015 and 2019, France experienced a 12.8% decline in admissions. In contrast, other leading European markets such as Germany, Spain, and Italy are down 17%, 24%, and 21.8%, respectively, compared to pre-COVID times.
A Changing Landscape for U.S. Films
In 2023, the number of U.S. film releases in France increased to 81, up from 68 in the previous year. However, this figure is still lower than the average of 127 U.S. film releases per year between 2017 and 2019. The output of U.S. movies may further decline in 2024 due to the SAG-AFTRA and WGA strikes, which disrupted production for a significant portion of 2023.
Despite the decrease in the number of U.S. titles released, they maintained a stable market share of 41.3% in France in 2023. French films accounted for 39.8% of the market share, considering all French productions, including minority co-productions.
A Diverse French Film Landscape
Apart from the already mentioned films, a wide range of French productions performed well in 2023. Jeremy Zag’s animated franchise “Miraculous” received acclaim, alongside arthouse films like Hayao Miyazaki’s “The Boy and the Heron,” Justine Triet’s Golden Globe-nominated “Anatomy of a Fall,” and Jeanne Herry’s star-studded “All Your Faces,” focusing on abuse survivors seeking justice. In addition, Ridley Scott’s “Napoleon” and Martin Scorsese’s “Killers of the Flower Moon,” with 1.56 million and 1.26 million tickets sold, respectively, also made it into the top 30 films of 2023.
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