French films at the international box office: September 2021

Around the World in 80 Days is the film that was most seen in theaters in September 2021, with one other title, Family Swap, also attracting more than 100,000 spectators outside France.

#	Title	Admissions	Box Office Revenues (€)	No. of Prints	No. of Countries	Total Admissions	Total Revenues
1	Around the World in 80 Days	411,151	1,552,714	2,105	10	464,891	1,999,020
2	Family Swap	103,513	557,115	433	5	146,415	896,111
3	Annette	76,167	523,376	310	9	186,366	1,106,376
4	The Rose Maker	60,826	511,780	265	6	99,217	815,268
5	Yakari, A Spectacular Journey	37,751	89,655	581	4	314,578	2,241,966
6	Astérix: The Secret of the Magic Potion	37,585	183,091	1	2	3,702,344	20,568,881
7	Bye Bye Morons	37,404	218,169	114	6	146,355	1,163,356
8	Eiffel	22,014	188,140	62	2	44,682	387,954
9	Benedetta	22,007	184,192	60	2	27,084	252,887
10	Délicieux	21,990	170,463	70	3	21,990	170,463
11	OSS 117: From Africa With Love	20,548	195,003	52	3	138,191	1,308,935
12	Black Box	20,409	170,356	134	5	20,409	170,356
13	The Big Hit	17,564	162,841	89	4	18,068	167,558
14	The Speech	15,943	58,280	273	6	49,052	253,158
15	Spoiled Brats	15,429	151,157	43	2	15,429	151,157
16	Kaamelott	13,699	128,807	48	3	252,110	2,369,234
17	30 Days Left	11,291	50,612	0	1	57,761	487,377
18	Petite Maman	9,464	73,424	47	2	15,143	109,161
19	The Bears' Famous Invasion	9,139	23,534	138	3	146,836	793,523
20	When Granny Meets Grandpa	7,541	34,434	68	3	17,298	87,087

The start of the fall season has been dominated by a large number of film festivals, including Venice and Toronto, where a raft of highly-anticipated titles were presented, on which high hopes have been placed to kick-start attendance figures in movie theaters. The Hollywood studios are back in force, each with their own battle horse out to conquer audiences: Disney surprises with Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, while Sony offers Venom 2, Universal unveils No Time to Die, and Warner is banking on Dune. In the same period last year, it was only Tenet that assumed the daunting task of boosting the market and proving that a return to theaters was possible. One year later, even though theaters are still under strict regulations and the sector is far from rebounding to prior-pandemic levels, we can observe that weekly box office ticket sales are rising slowly but steadily, posting figures that are higher than this time last year. While this gives hope that this year is on a path of revival, we must still bear in mind that certain regions of the world are experiencing an upsurge in Covid-19 cases.

French cinema is strengthening its presence in the international market, registering the highest monthly admissions score (1.82 million spectators) in 2021, after June (2.14 million). The million admissions threshold was easily crossed for the fourth time this year, and in September we saw around twenty new films, a dozen launches, and a 10% rise in attendance figures over August. Among the 10 most acclaimed majority-French productions in September, which echo the great diversity of French films at this time, the large majority are titles recently released in France that are feeding into the international market—a trend that looks likely to continue into October judging by the upcoming releases announced to date. As was the case in August, majority-French productions were more successful than minority productions, the major protagonists of the first half of 2021: the market share of films majority-produced by France rose by 7 points to reach 62%. The absence of foreign-language productions with high commercial potential in the current period (with the minority-French film The Father coming to the end of its victorious international run) has allowed French-language productions to remain in a dominant position, accounting for three-quarters of movie admissions in the monthly total. The Top 10 is led by a title that has garnered over 400,000 admissions—a first for this year! Majority-French productions are continuing to expand their audience: 5 films attracted more than 10,000 spectators in June, 19 in July, and 17 in August and September. An analysis of the new levels attained is very encouraging: in September, the symbolic 100,000 admissions mark was reached by 2 titles (compared to 3 in August and 1 in July), that of 50,000 admissions was reached for four titles (one in August and none in July), and that of 20,000 by 12 titles (8 in August, 7 in July). More and more films are being released in multiple markets, attracting increasing numbers of spectators.

The distribution of admissions between genres has evolved. The highly successful run of Around the World in 80 Days has given animations a stronger position, as they captured 40.2% of all admissions for French films in September (including 22.6% for Around the World and 11.9% for Bigfoot Family). Dramas and comedies follow, with market shares of 31.6% and 22.6%, respectively. Eiffel has boosted audiences for the biopic/historical drama genre, with 3%, and adventure films/thrillers account for 1.5%. Documentaries and fantasy films dropped to under 1%.

After two months reigning over the Top 10, Kaamelott (which has now left the charts), it's the turn of Around the World in 80 Days to take the top spot. In addition to ranking as the biggest success for a majority-French production in Italy in 2021 (96,000 admissions), Portugal (32,000), Russia (229,000), and Ukraine (64,000), this film has shown an unusual market trajectory by generating higher audience numbers in its second and third weeks than in its opening week! The same phenomenon applies to Family Swap, which has triumphed in Spain: 108,000 moviegoers have already turned out to see the title, and it stood firm in the local Top 10 for three weeks. Across the Atlantic, Annette was offered an ambitious release in 147 sites, and has charmed 35,000 spectators, while also continuing its run in Spain and Russia. Meanwhile, The Rose Maker has reinvigorated French cinema's position in Germany being the first majority-French title to reach 50,000 admissions since the beginning of the year. Elsewhere, Délicieux was one of the 10 most-seen titles in Quebec over 3 weeks and is continuing to perform well. Eiffel hit screens in regions in Oceania one month prior to its French release, already tallying 50,000 admissions. The three new releases this month are the latest Astérix flick, which is struggling to make its mark in China, Bye Bye Morons, which has been launched in Spain and Greece, and Yakari, A Spectacular Journey, which has just opened in Russia and Ukraine. And lastly, French films also broke into local Top 10 charts several times in September, and in a wide range of countries.

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This report is based on results recorded on October 13, 2021. 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.