French films at the international box office: April 2023

The Three Musketeers - D'Artagnan took the top spot in our monthly chart, attracting 1.35 million moviegoers outside France.

#	Title	Admissions	B.O. Revenues (€)	No. of Prints	No. of Countries	Total Admissions	Total Revenues
1	The Three Musketeers - D'Artagnan	1,358,083	7,265,599	5,540	42	1,358,083	7,265,599
2	Argonuts	199,756	1,161,629	2,343	10	1,011,297	5,836,705
3	Driving Madeleine	195,522	1,741,519	332	6	2,264,376	2,331,731
4	Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom	122,950	711,808	308	18	224,924	14,344,588
5	The Crime Is Mine	101,140	709,460	358	6	156,990	1,238,464
6	Princes of the Desert	87,449	258,671	658	1	96,951	357,693
7	The Innocent	52,961	392,223	134	8	162,312	1,235,025
8	The Blue Caftan	51,570	452,071	177	11	140,662	1,148,646
9	Heart of Oak	50,551	371,372	296	7	267,739	1,692,292
10	One Fine Morning	46,137	378,931	193	8	165,825	1,271,359
11	Return to Seoul	35,970	261,257	220	8	144,922	1,170,806
12	Life for Real	33,866	389,522	53	2	33,866	389,522
13	Notre-Dame on Fire	33,613	226,270	111	4	145,237	895,462
14	All Your Faces	27,996	295,267	36	2	27,996	295,267
15	The Passengers of the Night	23,425	144,031	57	3	114,126	779,858
16	On The Wandering Path	21,565	219,504	48	2	43,988	479,626
17	How to Survive Without Mum	21,476	203,740	103	3	21,476	203,740
18	November	20,516	132,576	199	2	118,827	966,289
19	A Cat's Life	19,206	200,802	113	3	19,206	200,802
20	Lockdown Tower	17,975	63,983	325	2	17,975	63,983

Stable box office results for French films in theaters abroad

French films registered 3.4 million admissions and generated €21.6 million in ticket sales in foreign theaters in April. Box office revenues rose by 6% over results in March, with, once again, a high number of new releases and titles already in distribution. Unlike in March, when admissions figures were more evenly spread across the top 10 titles, results for April are more similar to February, with one title dominating the scene: The Three Musketeers - D'Artagnan. The first installment of a new screen adaptation of the famous novel by Alexandre Dumas was released on April 5, and has since then charmed 1.36 million spectators outside France. It received an enthusiastic reception in Mexico (Zima, 362,000 admissions, registering €1,28 million), Russia (Atmosfera, 308,000, and €1.23 million), Spain (DeAPlaneta, 107,000, and €700,000), Italy (Medusa/Notorious, 104,000, and €710,000), and Brazil (Paris, 91,000, and €380,000). The Three Musketeers – D’Artagnan thus ranks as the third French production to have reached over 1 million admissions in foreign markets since the start of 2023!

A fourth title also achieved this feat in April: Argonuts. This animated film clocked up close to 300,000 spectators in the UK & Ireland (StudioCanal, €2.57 million) and Russia (Volga, €820,000). It is making a strong impression in Australia, where it ranks as the third most successful French animated film of all time (Icon, 66,000 admissions and €660,000)! Only a few thousand admissions separate Argonuts, remaining at second place in our chart, and Driving Madeleine, which has won over 86,000 German moviegoers (StudioCanal, €790,000) and 80,000 in Japan (Shôchiku, €710,000). No other majority-French production has been as popular with Japanese audiences since late 2019. Six productions recorded over 100,000 spectators abroad in April (as in March), together accounting for 61% of the month's admissions to French fare: in addition to these three titles, Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom has made its mark in Portugal (Nos, 71,000 admissions, €400,000), while The Crime Is Mine achieved the second best opening for a film by François Ozon in Italy to date – after 8 Women – with a running total of 71,000 admissions (Bim, €470,000) and the minority-French production Boy From Heaven (110,000 admissions, €500,0000). Nine films are currently showing in over 10 markets, with one title, The Three Musketeers - D'Artagnan, on release in over 40 markets.

Russia, Mexico, and Italy: top 3 territories in April

As usual, Europe remains the leading geographic region for the theatrical distribution of French films. In April, in the western zone of the continent over 1.5 million spectators chose to see a French production. Outside Europe, admissions soared in Latin America thanks to the triumphant opening of The Three Musketeers - D'Artagnan (553,000 tickets sold), while admissions doubled in Oceania, bolstered by the success of Argonuts (80,000). This animation has also revitalized French cinema's position in South Africa, where it opened at 3rd place in the national charts, with close to 20,000 admissions (UIP, €62,000). Russia (528,000 admissions), Mexico (393,000), and Italy (292,000) sit at the top of the charts for April in terms of admissions, while only two of the eight other markets that registered more than 100,000 admissions were outside Europe. Moreover, it is surprising to see these two countries reappear in our list after a long period of absence. They are Brazil (121,000 admissions) and Japan (106,000), where, respectively, the hit titles The Three Musketeers - D'Artagnan and Driving Madeleine were largely responsible for the hike in admissions.

Adventure films, comedies, and dramas were the most popular genres

The Three Musketeers - D'Artagnan has put an end to the long reign of comedies/drama-comedies and has propelled adventure films to center stage, credited with half of all spectators to French films abroad in April. Given the excellent performance of these titles, it is no surprise to find comedies/drama-comedies in second position this month, while dramas relied on a large number of titles to make it into the top 3. The leading dramas were the minority-French flicks L'Immensita (70,000 admissions) and Close (64,000), in addition to the majority-French titles The Blue Caftan (51,000) and One Fine Morning (46,000). French-majority productions (with 84% of all admissions) and French-language productions (85%) took the lion's share of admissions in April. Not once in previous months had these productions achieved such a high proportion of admissions compared to French-minority and foreign-language films, with the latter inevitably losing ground with just 1 million spectators registered.

French films at international festivals in April 2023

A special mention goes to the Istanbul Film Festival, whose program this year highlighted diverse genres, themes, and talent in French cinema, notably featuring three French films that have enjoyed successful careers at recent festivals. The first of these is Saint Omer, which was also selected in April at the Beijing International Film Festival (BJIFF) and the Taipei French Film Festival, where actress Guslagie Malanda was in attendance for the film's presentation (photo below). After the film's designation as France's candidate at the Oscars, and its Best First Film win at the César Awards, it continues its run on the festival circuit. Next is the comedy Two Tickets to Greece, which was accompanied in Istanbul by director Marc Fitoussi, who also presented his film at the Rendez-vous – Nuovo cinema francese festival in Rome. Two Tickets to Greece was also selected at the Barcelona-Sant Jordi International Film Festival. Finally, the documentary On the Adamant, which won the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin International Film Festival, was also presented at the BJIFF. Director Nicolas Philibert accompanied this Franco-Japanese coproduction to Japan for its release late April.

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This report is based on results recorded on May 10, 2023. 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.