France closed out the cinema year on a high note, recording 181 million theater admissions for 2023, a 18.9 percent jump compared with 2022.
The official box office figures, released Tuesday by state cinema body CNC, are still down double digits — 13.1 percent — from average admissions in the pre-COVID years between 2017 and 2019. But France’s bounceback has been faster and more robust than that in quite a few other territories.
Estimates from box office analysis firm Comscore show that 2023 U.S. revenue to the end of November was still 21 percent off pre-COVID averages in the 2017-2019 period. The U.K. showed a 13 percent lag behind its pre-pandemic period. Germany recorded 83 million admissions through November 2023, down 14 percent from the 2017-2019 average. Italy was off 22 percent, Spain 24 percent, and South Korea 47 percent.
U.S. films topped the French admissions charts in 2023, led by Universal Pictures’ The Super Mario Brothers, which racked up 7.15 million admissions, followed by Warner Bros. hit Barbie with 5.8 million and Walt Disney’s Avatar: The Way of Water with 5.18 million. The only French title to crack the top five was Guillaume Canet’s Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom, the latest in the live-action comic book franchise, which drew 4.48 million French viewers.
But a string of mid-level hits, including the comedy Alibi.com 2 from directors Philippe Lacheau and Marc David, Martin Bourboulon’s two-part Three Musketeers film, and Justine Triet’s Oscar contender Anatomy of a Fall helped boost French admissions to 72 million for the year, a 40 percent share.
CNC president Dominique Boutonnat attributed France’s comparable success to “the diversity of works offered, particularly French films, and to the commitment of our cinemas.”
2023 was the first year post-COVID when there were no health restrictions on cinemas in France.
Theaters enjoyed a strong summer season, helped by the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon, with admissions in July hitting 13.8 million, up 9.3 percent compared to pre-COVID averages, and off just 1.3 percent in August with 10.5 million. But attendance slumped in September, dropping 20 percent compared to the 2017-2019 average, with few new blockbusters on offer and stiff competition from television broadcasts of the Rugby World Cup.
