French films at the international box office: December 2023

Anatomy of a Fall maintained first place position in the monthly rankings for the third consecutive month, bolstered by 428,000 spectators. Dogman and The Three Musketeers - Milady claimed second and third place.


#	Title	Admissions	Box Office Revenues (€)	No. of Prints	No. of Countries	Total Admissions	Total Revenues
1	Anatomy of a Fall	428,234	3,317,917	871	23	1,692,512	14,545,021
2	Dogman	372,022	1,872,726	204	5	633,286	3,800,194
3	The Three Musketeers - Milady	1,75,081	1,180,052	1,197	21	175,081	1,180,052
4	The Taste of Things	130,105	1,087,689	261	9	177,969	1,462,469
5	Only 3 Days Left	54,971	343,362	205	7	210,121	1,457,453
6	On The Wandering Path	52,410	469,518	221	4	199,750	1,692,893
7	Ladybug & Cat Noir Awakening	42,272	202,547	169	8	7,179,472	31,951,470
8	The Jungle Bunch: World Tour	38,875	203,807	336	8	483,530	2,422,161
9	A Difficult Year	36,376	308,497	313	7	121,661	1,096,509
10	Christmas Unplanned	32,901	289,477	237	7	32,901	289,477
11	The Braid	26,348	267,988	86	2	30,186	323,295
12	Mr. Putifar's Wacky Plan	25,598	149,119	42	1	54,672	339,535
13	Two Tickets to Greece	24,428	241,323	90	3	109,788	999,476
14	Jeanne du Barry	19,007	94,288	128	11	1,726,039	8,560,442
15	Sugar and Stars	15,989	140,070	97	4	101,126	588,725
16	Whale Nation	13,417	63,548	61	1	65,126	324,520
17	Kina & Yuk	13,050	97,389	225	3	13,050	97,389
18	Argonuts	12,966	59,457	105	8	1,763,542	10,384,152
19	Suddenly	10,770	67,430	79	5	10,770	67,430
20	Night of the Hunted	9,480	55,284	117	1	73,439	247,724

The box office stablizes for French films abroad

French films registered 2.2 million admissions and generated €15.5 million in ticket sales in foreign theaters in December. Although monthly admissions were 30% lower than in November, they were higher than those registered in October (2.20 million), May (2.05 million), and June (1.90 million). Admittedly, The Three Musketeers - Milady did make its international debut, but its launch differed from that of last April's first installment,
D’Artagnan (1.65 million admissions and €9.1 million in total revenues in some 50 markets). With the exception of a dozen territories where it arrived between May and December 2023, The Three Musketeers – D'Artagnan hit the big screen in all other countries at the same time as France. Unsurprisingly, it sold over one million tickets alone in April 2023, almost a third of the monthly total for all French films combined. Whereas, The Three Musketeers – Milady opened in many foreign markets – mainly French-speaking and Latin American – but, overall, the number of tickets sold was halved compared with April, with major releases in other territories expected in 2024. This helps to explain the disparity in results between the two films.

Anatomy of a Fall remained firmly anchored to the first position on the podium and thereby secured its third consecutive month of success! In addition to solid ongoing performances, including over 400,000 viewers in North America (Neon/Entract, €3.86 million), almost 250,000 in Germany (Plaion, €0.68 million), and 200,000 in the United Kingdom & Ireland (Lionsgate, €0.40 million), the Spanish career of the 2023 Palme d'or was also a success. Nearly 200,000 moviegoers turned out (Elastica, €1.25 million), giving it three weeks' uninterrupted presence in the local top 10: in both cases, a first for a French film in Spain in 2023!

Nevertheless, it was the second-ranked film in December that attracted the highest number of viewers in a single market: Dogman and its 350,000 tickets sold in China (China Film, €1.73 million). While it's true that a release in the Asian country was synonymous with multiple-zero scores a few years ago, we mustn't forget that this market has also gone through changes stemming from the Covid-19 pandemic. That said, Dogman's run has been not limited to a few days; on the contrary, it was still in cinemas in early January. And in 2023, of all the French films released, only Ladybug & Cat Noir Awakening was more popular with the Chinese (China Film, 524,000 admissions and €2.04 million). Let's not forget that Dogman achieved the best start for a majority-French production in Taiwan post-Covid-19 (Sony, 15,000 and €0.12 million).

Two other French productions attracted over 100,000 foreign moviegoers each: the minority-French production The Old Oak and the majority-French production The Taste of Things. Word-of-mouth for the French candidate for the Oscar for Best International Film 2024 was so positive in The Netherlands that it attracted more viewers in its fourth week of release than in its third! Already chosen by 65,000 Dutch moviegoers (Cherry Pickers, €0.67 million), The Taste of Things also sold 40,000 tickets at the Spanish box office (A Contracorriente, €0.25 million). The remaining six rankings were occupied by five regulars and the previously unreleased Christmas Unplanned.

China, Spain, and Germany: the top three territories in December

As usual, Europe remained the leading geographic zone for French cinema (69% of monthly admissions). In detail, Western Europe contributed 1.2 million admissions to the monthly total, while Central and Eastern Europe – a rarity in 2023 – did not outperform this month; on the contrary, it posted the sharpest drop in attendance for French films: fewer than 300,000 moviegoers in the region chose a French title in cinemas in December. It was Asia that created a surprise, coming in just behind Western Europe with a market share of 18.5% of the December total, thanks to Dogman's score in China. As a result, China took the top spot in the territories' ranking, followed by Spain, Germany, and the Netherlands, all four with over 100,000 admissions.

Drama was most popular genre, while adventure made progress

In December, drama retained its role of favorite international genre (1.26 million viewers, 58% of the monthly total), thanks to the breakthroughs of Anatomy of a Fall, Dogman, The Taste of Things, and The Old Oak (minority-French production). While comedy and animation continued to round out the podium, adventure gained ground, tripling its fan base in one month, led by The Three Musketeers - Milady. Majority-French productions (78% of total admissions) and French-language productions (66%) carved out the major share of admissions for the month. Audiences for the latter were down 40% on November, while those for foreign-language productions were up 44%, a new balance created by the international careers of Dogman and the minority-French production The Old Oak. Finally, one million admissions went to arthouse films (44% of the monthly total), led by Anatomy of a Fall, The Old Oak, and The Taste of Things.

French films at international festivals in December 2023

To round off the year, we head for the MENA region, where the Marrakech International Film Festival gave pride of place to French cinema, with 33 productions selected. This predominance was reflected in the awards list, which honored two films with the Jury Prize: Bye bye Tiberias by Lina Soualem and Hounds by Kamal Lazraq. The Best Directing Prize went to Ramata-Toulaye Sy, who attended the event, for Banel & Adama. Many French artists were also present, including Camille Cottin, Marion Cotillard, and Bertrand Bonello. At the same time, the Red Sea Film Festival took place in Saudi Arabia. This year, some 20 French productions and co-productions were selected, including Jeanne du Barry by Maïwenn, in her presence. The opening film of the Cannes Film Festival was also financially supported by the Red Sea Film Foundation. The fund has supported other Cannes titles, such as Kaouther Ben Hania's docu-drama Four Daughters which also screened during the Red Sea Film Festival.

Banel & Adama

This report can be downloaded in PDF format below (French version only).

> This report is based on results recorded on January 11, 2024. 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.