French films at the international box office: March 2022

The Wolf and the Lion attracted 359,000 moviegoers around the world in March, with three other films registering over 100,000 admissions.

#	Title	Admissions	Box office revenues (€)	No. of prints	No. of countries	Total admissions	Total B.O. revenues
1	The Wolf and the Lion	359,540	2,089,837	1,550	14	1,469,987	8,738,954
2	Pil	140,105	685,352	774	14	433,998	1,899,508
3	King	111,221	405,534	337	9	119,446	486,621
4	Little Nicholas' Treasure	109,286	314,899	141	2	553,598	2,181,850
5	Around the World in 80 Days	88,719	655,423	709	6	1,181,833	6,884,841
6	Lost Illusions	51,504	284,672	417	7	146,080	940,876
7	Vicky and her Mystery	50,696	137,396	173	4	302,626	1,138 585
8	Superwho?	46,763	296,110	407	8	131,386	978,589
9	The Velvet Queen	39,051	339,150	210	6	94,557	973,170
10	Haute couture	38,257	161,914	453	5	60,541	325,165
11	Retirement Home	32,901	318,079	156	3	64,807	641,741
12	Happening	29,810	184,184	201	11	85,287	517,204
13	Paris, 13th District	23,176	175,385	136	5	37,497	284,446
14	Waiting for Bojangles	17,873	54,434	327	3	53,759	384,156
15	Kandisha	16,568	52,244	148	1	16,568	52,244
16	The Big Hit	16,350	94,232	69	4	98,051	726,134
17	The Divide	14,342	87,561	64	1	17,739	127,686
18	Farewell Mr Haffmann	13,840	85,023	113	2	29,303	227,984
19	Petite Maman	12,317	79,448	159	13	149,746	1,097,994
20	Maigret	10,177	110,828	41	2	18,852	199,265

The global market: increased flexibility and new challenges

The easing of restrictions on movie theaters continued in March: restrictions were lifted entirely in Belgium, Hungary, The Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and Romania, and in certain Länders, or provinces, in Germany and states in Australia. Other governments opted to end the health pass requirement for cinema entry, such as in Austria, South Korea, Ecuador, Poland, and Quebec. Meanwhile, an upsurge in the pandemic led to a toughening of measures in the Indonesian capital and the closure of theaters in Shanghai, China, while theaters in Hong Kong have remain closed since the beginning of January. In addition to the health crisis, the war underway between Russia and Ukraine has obviously disrupted not only local markets but also markets worldwide. The sanctions adopted against Russia have translated into an ever decreasing offer of new films (not a single Hollywood blockbuster has been released in the country), as well as a drop in attendance figures, and the closure of one quarter of movie theaters. The Ukrainian market, which is very closely dependent on the Russian market, has clearly suffered drastically from the war.

Strong box office revenues for French films in international markets

The Worst Person in the World

At the same time as an increasing number of films showing in theaters and of new releases abroad compared to the figures for February, ticket sales for French films outside France rose by 24% against 2022. This is, nonetheless, the fourth time since the start of the pandemic that French cinema has generated more than 2 million admissions in one month, with the results matching the level registered in January and February 2020. The highest performer of the month, The Wolf and the Lion, was far ahead of its competitors, garnering 360,000 moviegoers (compared to 413,000 for the leading title in our charts in February, Little Nicholas' Treasure). This feat was also achieved by 3 minority-French productions, including The Worst Person in the World, which registered 473,000 admissions.

Western Europe ranks as number 1 market for French cinema

Europe secured close to three-quarters of admissions to French films in March, with, Western Europe accounting for 54% of these figures. Among other global regions, only Latin America came close to the 500,000 admission mark, with French films capturing over 15% of the market. Russia took over as the leading national foreign market in terms of attendance numbers for French films in this period, with 571,000 tickets sold, ahead of Poland (249,000 admissions), which took the lead in February. Germany and Spain followed, each registering 220,000 admission, while four other countries each also generated over 100,000 admissions.

Animation continued to dominate the scene

French animations achieved a second triumphant month in international markets in 2022. 3 out of 7 films attracted over 100,000 spectators: Pil and the minority-French productions Chickenhare and the Hamster of Darkness and Fireheart. One third of admissions to French films outside France in March were attributed to animations. Comedies/dramatic comedies followed closely behind, accounting for 30.5% of total admissions, while the adventure/thriller/crime drama genre took 20.7%. In a more general overview, it can be noted that family-oriented French titles achieved the most success in the global market in this period.

Majority and minority productions remained stable

Films produced solely or in the majority by France generated 53% of admissions registered in March, the same proportion as in February, led by four titles that all topped the 100,000 admissions mark. Productions minority-produced by France retained their 47% share of admissions this month, thanks to The Worst Person in the World, which crossed the symbolic 1 million admissions threshold outside France (and Norway) in addition to €3 million at the box office in the United States, as well as Chickenhare and the Hamster of Darkness (559,000 admissions and €500,000 credited to its performance in Russia alone), and Fireheart. French-language films continue to dominate the scene, accounting for two third of admissions to French films in international theaters.

The top performing French titles

The Wolf and the Lion is the undisputed leader of the charts in March. This film has revitalized French cinema's presence across the Rhine, attracting 152,000 German moviegoers (€1.12 million in ticket sales), matching the score of Around the World in 80 Days, which is continuing its outstanding run in Germany, currently close to marking 300,000 admissions (€2.03 million). These two films have been released under the STUDIOCANAL banner. The Wolf and the Lion also enjoyed a successful continuation of its run in Russian theaters: 6 weeks after its release, it is still showing in just under 400 theaters and has registered over 20,000 ticket sales each week, for a total of 174,000 admissions (Cinema Pioner, €340,000). Pil has returned to Latin America, winning over 72,000 Colombians (Cine Colombia, €180,000), and continues its European run in Portugal, where it garnered 23,000 spectators (Cine Mundo, €120,000). Following behind the minority-French production Fireheart and Pil, among other titles, we can mention the debut of King in Latin America, where it is distributed by BF. It has registered over 100,000 admissions in 7 markets in this region, and broke into the Top 10 in Peru (64,000 admissions, €180,000). A title that dropped out of the monthly Top 3 in March (see above), Little Nicholas' Treasure is nonetheless still attracting the interest of Polish audiences two months after it first hit movie screens. The only majority-French production to have registered more than half a million spectators in a foreign market since the start of the pandemic, the latest installment on the Little Nicholas saga is the second most popular title of the trilogy in Poland (523,000 admissions and €1.9 million), after Nicholas on Holiday (626,000 admissions and €2.45 million), with both films distributed by Kino Swiat. As concerns festival films, Lost Illusions succeeded in amassing CAD$200,000 and 20,000 ticket sales in Quebec (Les Films Opale), a feat shared by The Wolf and the Lion, which boasts box office takings of CAD$308,000 and 30,000 admissions (mk2 Mile End).

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Little Nicholas' Treasure

This report is based on results recorded on April 14, 2022. Due to the fact that 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.