French films at the international box office: July 2021

***Kaamelott - Premier volet*** **is the film with the highest attendance figures in July 2021 while eighteen other titles attracted more than 10,000 spectators outside France.**
#	Title	Admissions	Box Office Revenues (€)	No. of Prints	No. of Countries	Total Admissions	Total B. O. Revenues
1	Kaamelott	107,058	987,677	92	3	107,058	987,677
2	Bye Bye Morons	23,048	165,223	105	7	102,468	914,680
3	Amelie	22,807	88,081	237	3	22,400,461	13,585,204
4	Family Swap	22,520	218,885	37	2	22,520	218,885
5	Mystery in Saint-Tropez	22,503	136,681	415	6	22,503	136,681
6	My Donkey, My Lover & I	21,203	154,738	113	4	199,898	1,671,844
7	Meander	20,809	66,007	349	1	20,809	66,007
8	Serial Bad Weddings 2	20,030	73,574	444	3	3,734,429	28,289,599
9	Love Affair(s)	19,058	113,413	67	2	32,118	203,674
10	Perfumes	18,738	145,604	67	5	75,044	505,412

Like the month of June, the long-awaited reopening of theaters in many countries finally allowed French films whose releases had been canceled and postponed to at last connect with their audience. In July, new announcements of cinema closures (Algeria, Tunisia, etc.) and the tightening of access measures (such as the health pass or the reduction of the number of screenings due to the newly introduced curfew) around the world disheartened many a professional. However, this time, for the moment, few films have been officially postponed until the end of the year, or even 2022. While attendance figures remain fragile and the arrival of many long-delayed US blockbusters monopolized cinemas and audiences and made competition tougher, July 2021 brought with it some encouraging results: majority-French productions enjoyed their best month of the year, we note the strongest launch for a film in this category in 2021, while another broke records in an English-speaking market.

The monthly top 3 illustrates the three groups of films that make up the current French titles on offer internationally. First of all, there are the new films that are making their way into the national and foreign markets for their debut screenings, such as the first episode of Kaamelott, Family Swap, and Mystery in Saint-Tropez, or Annette, fresh after its world premiere in Cannes. Secondly, productions whose releases were interrupted by the pandemic but which nevertheless managed to find their audience, such as Bye Bye Morons and My Donkey, My Lover & I. Finally heritage or classic cinema, with Amelie, which has been re-released in several territories to celebrate its 20-year career, leading the way: many classic French films were shown on open-air screens in Greece, a selection of Éric Rohmer's work was offered to the Portuguese, and La Piscine / The Swimming Pool remained the top French hit of 2021 in the US.

The majority-French production that garnered the most admissions internationally in July 2021 was Kaamelott. The comedy achieved the best launch for a majority French-language production in Belgium, Quebec, and Switzerland since Serial Bad Weddings 2 at the beginning of 2019! The comedy settled into second place in the Belgian and Swiss charts and fourth place in the Quebec chart, with each theater tallying an average of over 1,000 spectators, the highest theatrical admissions figure in the three territories. 53,000 Belgians, 33,000 Quebec moviegoers, and 22,000 Swiss discovered the film in theaters during its first week of release. Kaamelott – Premier volet is the first majority-French production to record more than 100,000 admissions in its opening week in 2021!

18 other films attracted more than 10,000 moviegoers outside France, four times more than in June! Moreover, it should be noted that the majority of these titles were released in several territories, whereas until now their circulation was often limited to one alone.

My Donkey, My Lover & I deserves a special mention. The comedy reached and passed the NZ$400,000 mark and 30,000 viewers in New Zealand. One month after its launch, the comedy still retained its place in the local top 10 and became the majority-French production that had racked up the most admissions in the country since 2012! Meander and Serial Bad Weddings 2 were released in more than 300 theaters in Russia, while Amelie was shown in almost 200 cinemas. Bye Bye Morons continued to do well in Quebec with over 22,000 viewers.

Despite the current context, in July 2021, more than 180 French productions hit international screens, generating 1.17 million admissions and €7.7 million in ticket sales.

Although French cinema attendance exceeded one million admissions for the second time in 2021, it lost nearly one million spectators compared with June (-45%). It should nevertheless be remembered that last month's achievement was boosted by 1.5 million tickets generated in China by minority-French productions. However, if the latter continued to participate largely in the monthly total (especially The Father, nearly three million tickets sold, Achoura, Quo Vadis, Aida?, and Rosa's Wedding), their share was reduced, because majority-French productions' share increased until it exceded 50% by a small margin: they attracted twice as many spectators as in June and recorded their richest month in terms of admissions of 2021. In July, 19 films exceeded 10,000 spectators (seven of them 20,000 and one tallying 100,000), four times more than the previous month! Thanks mainly to Kaamelott – Premier volet, Belgium and Luxembourg sold more than 100,000 tickets to French cinema, while Germany, Quebec, Russia, and Switzerland registered sales of 50,000 each.

The division of admissions between film genres follows the pattern of the previous month, although the market share has evolved. Dramas consolidated their leadership and returned to May's level, accounting for 3 admissions out of 4 of the total. Fantasy films moved out ahead of comedies, but their shares were reduced by half (14.2%) and three quarters (7.4%) respectively. Among the other genres, only animation (4%) gained a share of over 1%.

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This report is based on results recorded on August 3, 2021. Since our statistics for film releases are continuously updated, the graphics generated automatically on our website will differ from the chart featured in this article.