In September 2023, French films were represented in international theaters by over 320 titles already in distribution and over 190 new releases, registering a total of 3.6 million admissions and generating €19.2 million in ticket sales.
Ladybug & Cat Noir Awakening remained at the top of the chart, with 1.1 million spectators, still followed by Jeanne du Barry, for the third consecutive month! A new entrant, The Jungle Bunch: World Tour, took third position.
| # | Title | Admissions | Box Office Revenues (€) | No. of Prints | No. of Countries | Total Admissions | Total Revenues |
| 1 | Ladybug & Cat Noir Awakening | 1,121,669 | 4,05,828 | 2,945 | 14 | 6,725,297 | 29,605,936 |
| 2 | Jeanne du Barry | 512,141 | 3,028,103 | 1,178 | 12 | 1,558,037 | 7,590,626 |
| 3 | The Jungle Bunch: World Tour | 290,378 | 1,091,733 | 1,795 | 8 | 310,509 | 1,302,516 |
| 4 | A Cat's Life | 129,034 | 506,411 | 463 | 10 | 248,722 | 1,426,769 |
| 5 | Anatomy of a Fall | 124,641 | 1,064,448 | 175 | 5 | 132,904 | 1,178,203 |
| 6 | Passages | 110,048 | 863,405 | 392 | 15 | 214,509 | 1,650,840 |
| 7 | Ride Above | 104,010 | 414,762 | 522 | 4 | 153,692 | 815,792 |
| 8 | A Great Friend | 103,375 | 886,950 | 295 | 8 | 152,410 | 1,327,893 |
| 9 | Argonuts | 96,178 | 658,688 | 606 | 6 | 1,431,389 | 8,710,780 |
| 10 | Driving Madeleine | 61,380 | 523,051 | 196 | 7 | 556,925 | 4,885,677 |
| 11 | The Blue Caftan | 38,872 | 250,138 | 222 | 7 | 244,535 | 1,992,038 |
| 12 | No Dogs or Italians Allowed | 38,851 | 259,462 | 112 | 4 | 67,657 | 487,599 |
| 13 | The Crime Is Mine | 25,313 | 181,633 | 169 | 9 | 493,856 | 3,528,810 |
| 14 | Around the World in 80 Days | 22,110 | 137,456 | 142 | 2 | 1,640,595 | 9,790,290 |
| 15 | All Your Faces | 19,631 | 116,882 | 47 | 2 | 64,645 | 573,878 |
| 16 | The Book of Wonders | 17,469 | 72,566 | 124 | 6 | 87,037 | 529,399 |
| 17 | The Book of Solutions | 16,131 | 155,069 | 52 | 2 | 16,131 | 155,069 |
| 18 | Rise | 16,078 | 134,117 | 12 | 3 | 340,556 | 2,617,043 |
| 19 | Acid | 16,003 | 85,579 | 72 | 4 | 16,003 | 85,579 |
| 20 | Vaincre ou mourir | 14,864 | 91,735 | 46 | 1 | 14,864 | 91,735 |
Solid box office results continue for French films abroad
French films registered 3.6 million admissions and generated €19.2 million in ticket sales in foreign theaters in September. These figures represent the highest number tallied for French films in September in the last five years. While the number of films on offer (+13%) and the number of releases (+20%) were up on the previous month, admissions (-26%) and box office revenues (-9.5%) were down. Ladybug & Cat Noir Awakening's high and fluctuating monthly scores had an impact on overall performance: the animated film accounted for 68% of August admissions, but this percentage was halved (32%) in September, when the film attracted three times fewer viewers. Excluding Ladybug, French films attracted 2.44 million foreign moviegoers, compared with 1.55 million in August. We discover that seven titles topped 100,000 admissions each (compared with just one in August), including one that scored more than 500,000! What's more, these seven films are all very different from one another (animation, comedy, drama, and adventure), testifying to a diversified and appealing French selection of titles. For the third month running, Ladybug & Chat Noir Awakening remained at the top of the charts, with 6.73 million admissions outside France! In September, the film caused a sensation in Turkey, where it topped the local rankings, attracting 144,000 fans young and old (The Moments Entertainment, €0.48 million). 262,000 Italian fans (Medusa/Notorious, €1.58 million) helped Jeanne du Barry hold on to second place in the monthly chart for the third month running. The biopic now stands out as the biggest transalpine French success of 2023, and the most widely seen French film on the big screen locally since the end of 2019! This month's newcomer to the podium, The Jungle Bunch: World Tour, delighted 118,000 Vietnamese (CGV, €0.38 million), 80,000 Russians (Capella, €0.19 million), and 33,000 Romanians (Cay, €0.11 million).In terms of family films, the other ambassadors were Mon chat et moi, which built a solid career in Poland (M2, 105,000 admissions and €0.39 million), Ride Above, also launched in Poland (Best, 57,000 and €0.19 million), and in Italy (Eagle, 45,000 and €0.22 million), and Argonuts, which 74,000 South Koreans flocked to see (Green Narae Media, €0.47 million). A successful German launch (Neue Visionen, 87,000 admissions and €0.74 million) gave A Great Friend its first appearance in the monthly top 10, while Driving Madeleine returned thanks to an outstanding reception in Denmark (Angel, 44,000 and €0.36 million), which no French film (majority-French and in French) has enjoyed since The Intouchables in 2012! Passages attracted more moviegoers than in August, thanks to solid runs and new launches, while the Palme d'Or winner Anatomy of a Fall found its audience in Belgium (54,000 admissions and €0.46 million) and Greece (Spentzos, 45,000 and €0.31 million), among other countries.
Russia, Italy, and Germany: top three territories in September
As usual, Europe remained the leading geographic region for the theatrical distribution of French films (85% of monthly admissions). Exactly the opposite of August, Western Europe and Oceania were the only regions to record more spectators than the previous month. Outside Europe, over 100,000 tickets were sold, with a market share of over 10% in Asia alone. Once again, Russia topped the list of foreign territories (880,000 admissions), well ahead of Italy (432,000) and Germany (332,000). Poland, Spain, Vietnam, Turkey, Belgium & Luxembourg, and South Korea complete the list of markets that each offered more than 100,000 admissions to French titles.
Animated films, comedies, and dramas were the most popular genres
EIn September, animation remained the favorite international genre (1.63 million viewers, 45.7% of the monthly total). Thanks to the fine performance of Mon chat et moi in Poland, the adventure genre saw its audience more than double in the space of a single month. Comedy/dramedy was buoyed by the exploits of Ride Above, Les Choses simples, and Driving Madeleine, while drama moved up a position under the impetus of Passages and the solid early career of Anatomy of a Fall. Only a handful of tickets enabled drama to overtake biopic/war/history (Jeanne du Barry). Majority-French productions (92% of total admissions) and those in the French language (89%) took the lion's share of the month's admissions. No production with minority-French financing attracted more than 100,000 moviegoers in September: the leader, A Brighter Tomorrow, peaked at 73,000 tickets sold at foreign box offices. In September, 1.16 million admissions went to arthouse films (+17%), led by Jeanne du Barry, Anatomy of a Fall, and Passages.
French films at international film festivals in 2023
TIFF (Toronto International Film Festival) remains the North American launching pad for films that had their world premiere at Cannes or Venice . This year, 35 French films were selected for Toronto, including three that will continue to have a busy festival career this fall, before being released around the world. In addition to winning over Canadian audiences, Banel & Adama – which won an award at the Melbourne International Film Festival in August – continued its tour in September at the Villa Medici Film Festival (Rome) and the Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur (FIFF), where its director, Ramata-Toulaye Sy, also travelled after Toronto. Also selected in Competition at Cannes, Catherine Breillat's Last Summer was presented at the New York Film Festival (NYFF) (photo) and Filmfest Hamburg, before arriving in Busan and the French Film Varilux Panorama in Brazil. Concluding this report, The Beast was welcomed at four festivals in September, including TIFF, NYFF, and Hamburg, after receiving its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival in the presence of director Bertrand Bonello. In October, it continued its festival adventure at the BFI London Film Festival and at Busan.
This report can be downloaded in PDF format below
(French version only)
> This report is based on results recorded on October 12, 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.
Study
Unifrance - Analyse mensuelle - Septembre 2023
