In March – as screens around the world began to fade one after the other – a sentimental drama continued to appeal to English-speaking markets, a historical drama attracted Latin American moviegoers and a comedy brought German spectators together.
| # | Title | No. of Admissions | Box Office Revenues (€) | No. of Prints | No. of Countries | Total Admissions |
| 1 | Portrait of a Lady on Fire | 144,274 | 1,158,096 | 532 | 15 | 1,365,961 |
| 2 | An Officer and a Spy | 56,821 | 309,579 | 427 | 14 | 1,362,234 |
| 3 | The Truth | 46,768 | 371,679 | 214 | 10 | 570,958 |
| 4 | The Specials | 42,283 | 267,915 | 328 | 12 | 842,963 |
| 5 | Les Misérables | 40,337 | 270,302 | 259 | 19 | 459,556 |
| 6 | Cuban Network | 36,545 | 145,444 | 466 | 3 | 36,545 |
| 7 | Who You Think I Am | 32,080 | 88,431 | 164 | 2 | 444,372 |
| 8 | The Best is Yet to Come | 26,304 | 143,570 | 145 | 2 | 144,616 |
| 9 | The Wolf's Call | 24,163 | 141,233 | 336 | 1 | 183,812 |
| 10 | The Translators | 18,302 | 90,310 | 272 | 4 | 174,997 |
| 11 | 10 days Without Mum | 18,189 | 113,800 | 94 | 3 | 68,129 |
| 12 | Father | 12,936 | 41,228 | 31 | 1 | 12,936 |
| 13 | MILF | 10,191 | 35,003 | 173 | 1 | 43,158 |
| 14 | The Mystery of Henri Pick | 9,554 | 59,768 | 40 | 5 | 522,870 |
| 15 | A Good Doctor | 8,070 | 35,167 | 105 | 1 | 24,850 |
| 16 | The Lost Prince | 6,163 | 54,847 | 99 | 5 | 56,080 |
| 17 | It Must Be Heaven | 5,992 | 29,733 | 39 | 5 | 154,311 |
| 18 | Spread Your Wings | 5,904 | 36,349 | 92 | 4 | 294,214 |
| 19 | My Stupid Dog | 5,772 | 18,596 | 46 | 1 | 65,117 |
| 20 | La Belle Epoque | 5,604 | 36,615 | 79 | 10 | 775,025 |
In March, French cinema registered 765,000 international admissions (€4.51 million in box office revenues), with majority productions accounting for 81% of the monthly result (618,000 tickets sold and €3.87 million at the box office). Admissions were down 73% compared to February 2020 and 82% compared to March 2019 (4.19 million moviegoers). Only one title attracted more than 100,000 spectators (compared with 6 the previous month) and the Top 3 titles tallied 248,000 admissions, compared with 940,000 in February and 763,000 in January 2020. Portrait of a Lady on Fire once again led the rankings, still followed by An Officer and a Spy. The Truth, which dominated the podium in October 2019, returned to the Top 3.
The spread of Covid-19 across the five continents led to the adoption of governmental measures that impacted cinema theaters' activity. Initially, several countries opted for the reduction of theater capacity and for regular disinfection of the venues. Subsequently, the reinforcement of these measures led to the closure of theater complexes, either through the effect of national and/or local decrees, or through the choice of the exhibitors themselves who were facing a diminished moviegoing public and the withdrawal of films, as all actors in the film industry were impacted.
After China, Italy was the first country to approve the shuttering of cinemas. In mid-March, some 40 other nations announced similar measures. By the end of the month, projectors were switched off in more than 70 countries and the last few remaining exhibitors still in operation were in South Korea, Japan, Sweden and Taïwan.
Many French film releases, initially scheduled for March, were cancelled, postponed to a later date, or moved to online platforms.
In one month, the total number of weekly admissions of French films in international theaters dropped from 766,000 to 5,900, the number of films exhibited from 104 to 25, and the number of new releases from 46 to 3.
Several of the titles listed in this ranking were enjoying fine international and local theatrical careers, which came to an abrupt halt within a few days. Portrait of a Lady on Fire achieved a rare feat for a French-language film in markets that are traditionally difficult to access. In the USA, it was programmed by 330 theaters and reached a total of $3.76 million in box office revenues, the equivalent of more than 410,000 spectators. The $5 million threshold, which no French-language title had reached since Love in 2012 ($6.74 million, 830,000 admissions), was within reach. Launched simultaneously in 52 theaters and on VOD, Céline Sciamma's latest film marked her best European debut in the United Kingdom and Ireland, but finished at £554,500 (about 77,000 cinemagoers) three weeks into its run.
After Mexico (64,500 admissions and €242,500), An Officer and a Spy landed in another Latin American country, Brazil, where it attracted more than 10,000 spectators the week of its release (€42,000). The following weekend, films disappeared from theaters: the distributor of An Officer and a Spy announced that it will be available on TVOD in April. In Mexico, despite a fine local career, Who You Think I Am saw its attendance plummet by almost 70% between the second and third week, with a total of 68,000 tickets sold (€192,500). Another similar case: The Specials in Spain, which lost 57% of its admissions between weeks one and two, with just over 100,000 tickets sold (€547,000). Cuban Network got off to the best start of the month with 31,500 admissions in Russia (€116,000), but this figure is also its cumulative total, as Russian theaters temporarily ceased their activity ten days after its release.
At the beginning of March, The Truth appealed to 26,000 Germans (€204,000) and, despite the overall drop in attendance, achieved the best average number of admissions per print for the week. Like Cuban Network, The Truth was no longer on release by mid-March.
This analysis is based on the results dated April 8, 2020. As figures are constantly being consolidated, the graph automatically created by the site will differ from the table in this news item.
