French films at the international box office: March 2024

Anatomy of a Fall attracted over one million additional spectators and returned to the top of the rankings. Autumn and the Black Jaguar and Cat & Dog – The Great Crossing claimed second and third place.


#	Title	No. of Admissions	Box Office Revenues (€)	No. of Prints	No. of Countries	Total Admissions	Total Revenues
1	Anatomy of a Fall	1,091,947	6,988,544	1,573	41	4,533,125	33,294,023
2	Autumn and the Black Jaguar	718,680	5,074,655	1,886	18	2,163,548	15,128,059
3	Cat & Dog – The Great Crossing	467,356	1,762,421	2,238	12	615,645	2,635,221
4	Oh La La	326,396	3,003,634	773	7	419,832	3,926,086
5	The Taste of Things	234,024	1,882,897	823	20	971,474	8,291,512
6	Maria Montessori	219,756	1,969,238	462	4	219,756	1,969,238
7	The Jungle Bunch: World Tour	139,456	930,544	986	17	1,195,340	6,911,117
8	Vermin	122,255	415,792	833	5	149,455	621,159
9	Kina & Yuk	80,249	552,974	431	7	139,441	955,621
10	The Braid	66,978	673,776	235	7	142,828	1,449,243
11	Oldies but Goodies	54,283	542,504	60	3	81,781	823,825
12	Dogman	46,227	385,816	182	6	933,260	5,486,564
13	The Beast	32,391	176,210	120	4	34,144	194,869
14	A Great Friend	26,011	169,047	80	3	316,923	2,696,626
15	The Three Musketeers - Milady	22,755	127,166	179	5	665,873	3,678,009
16	Four Daughters	22,716	154,853	147	13	65,187	515,125
17	The Successor	21,205	149,997	124	5	101,943	763,307
18	Bolero	19,444	193,200	42	2	19,444	193,200
19	Driving Madeleine	17,481	191,755	73	3	775,684	6,765,660
20	Out of Season	17,060	117,668	204	4	17,060	117,668

Strong box office results continue for French films abroad

Autumn and the Black Jaguar French films registered five million admissions and generated €32.2 million in ticket sales in foreign theaters in March. Monthly admissions reached their second highest peak post-pandemic, after those recorded in February, and even surpassed the March 2019 results! Having relinquished the crown to Autumn and the Black Jaguar after four consecutive months of reign, Anatomy of a Fall is now back at it again. More than one million foreign viewers discovered the Oscar and Palme d'Or winner this month, with total ticket sales exceeding 4.5 million and now aiming for 5 million! The drama was a sensation in China where it attracted more than 400,000 moviegoers (China Film, €2.29 million in box office revenues) and even made it into the local top 5. Not since Taxi 5 in 2018 (China Film, 1 million admissions and a total of €3.75 million) has a French-language, majority-financed drama gotten off to such an enthusiastic start in China). Anatomy of a Fall also continued its royal career in Germany (Plaion, 498,000 and €5.09 million), Brazil (Diamond, 261,000 and €1.09 million), Australia (Madman, 139,000 and €1.36 million), Japan (Gaga, 135,000 and €1.18 million), and Poland (M2, 215,000 and €1.07 million in total). Autumn and the Black Jaguar may have lost March's top position, but it continued to attract fans around the world. During the month, nearly 30,000 Quebec moviegoers (TVA, €0.22 million) and 26,000 Czechs and Slovaks (Bonton, €0.18 million) discovered it on the big screen, not to mention nearly 300,000 Germans, who helped it cross the symbolic threshold of one million admissions in Germany (StudioCanal, €7.94 million) and two million outside France! Autumn and the Black Jaguar has now sold 421,000 tickets in Poland (Kino Swiat, €1.96 million), 253,000 in Italy (01 Distribution, €1.69 million), and 110,000 in Austria (Constantin, €0.96 million). The last step of the podium went to Cat & Dog – The Great Crossing,with 316,000 admissions in Russia (Global, €0.91 million), ahead of another comedy, Oh La La, which delighted 194,000 Germans (Weltkino, €1.83 million) and 37,000 Austrians (Filmladen, €0.37 million). The Taste of Things rounds off the top five: the film has generated $2.64 million at the box office in the USA since its release at the beginning of February, corresponding to 252,000 admissions (IFC), followed by successful debuts in Vietnam (CJ HK/Lumix, 28,000 and €0.09 million), Norway (Another World, 10,000 and €0.12 million), and Singapore (Shaw, 2,000 and €0.02 million). Traditionally much more changeable, the lower half of the top 10 often welcomes new entrants, and March was no exception. Maria Montessori attracted 202,000 Germans (Neue Visionen, €1.77 million), while Vermin was exported to Latin America, where it haunted 82,000 Mexicans (Gussi/Supra, €0.28 million) and 36,000 Colombians, while Kina & Yuk appealed to 39,000 Italian (Adler, €0.26 million) and 26,000 Quebec moviegoers (Les Films Opale, 36,000 and €0.27 million in total), and The Braid moved 60,000 German-speaking viewers (Capelight in Germany, Polyfilm in Austria, and Praesens in Switzerland). And let's not forget The Jungle Bunch: World Tour, chosen by 140,000 fans this month. These 10 titles accounted for 69% of admissions generated by French productions outside France in March 2024.

Germany, Mexico, and China: the top three territories in March

VerminAs usual, Europe remains the leading geographic zone for French cinema (61% of monthly admissions). Western Europe accounted for two million admissions for the month to date, while Central and Eastern Europe (0.98 million) was followed by Latin America (0.94 million), which in turn outstripped Asia (0.66 million). The aforementioned Anatomy of a Fall (0.76 million admissions), Vermin (0.12 million), and The Taste of Things (0.12 million), to which we can add a minority-French production Robot Dreams (0.57 million), were the most popular outside Europe, and their scores explain the boom in extra-European attendance for French productions. Germany (0.93 million) remained at the top of the territories' ranking, followed by Mexico (0.65 million) and China (0.42 million). 14 foreign territories (13 in February, six in January) offered more than 100,000 admissions each to French productions in March 2024..

Drama still dominated as the most popular genre, but comedy made a strong comeback

Cat & Dog – The Great CrossingIn March, drama retained the title of favorite genre internationally (1.67 million admissions, 33% of the monthly total), thanks to the breakthroughs of Anatomy of a Fall and The Taste of Things. The warm welcome given to Cat & Dog - The Great Crossing, Oh La La, Robot Dreams, Maria Montessori, and Vermin restored color to the respective genres – comedy, animation, biopic, and fantasy –, offering them more viewers than in February. Majority-French productions (81% of total admissions) and French-language productions (77%) still accounted for the lion's share of the month's admissions. Finally, almost 1.63 million admissions went to arthouse films (33% of the monthly total), led by Anatomy of a Fall and The Taste of Things.

French films at international festivals in March 2024

Three films presented at the Rendez-Vous With French Cinema in New York and/or French Film Festival in Yokohama, organized by Unifrance in March, also enjoyed a successful career at a number of other festivals. Already programmed at Toronto, San Sebastián, and Marrakech, Les Indésirables thus continued its tour in Yokohama and New York, accompanied by its director Ladj Ly.
Awarded at Cannes' Semaine de la Critique and presented at São Paulo and Zurich, The Rapture won the Best Emerging Director Award at the Unifrance Rendez-Vous With French Cinema in New York.
Another title selected by the Semaine de la Critique last year, Àma Gloria, was also presented to audiences at Unifrance festivals in New York and Yokohama. It was accompanied by director Marie Amachoukeli and the film's young actress Louise Mauroy-Panzani (pictured below during a autograph session with Japanese audiences). The film also screened at the Morelia Festival and at Cinemania.

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

> This report is based on results recorded on April 15, 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.