French films at the international box office: June 2024

A Little Something Extra claimed first place as the French film the most seen abroad in June. The Taste of Things and The Animal Kingdom took second and third place respectively.

#	Title	No. of Admissions	Box Office Revenues (€)	No. of Prints	No. of Countries	Total Admissions	Total Revenues
1	A Little Something Extra	177,319	1,823,856	124	3	450,009	4,701,133
2	The Taste of Things	89,647	630,166	482	16	1,349,866	11,159,867
3	The Animal Kingdom	70,541	333,672	670	4	1,1,384	1,002,431
4	Maria Montessori	47,012	427,427	180	9	402,984	3,437,995
5	The Count of Monte Cristo	37,366	415,640	67	2	37,366	415,640
6	Marguerite's Theorem	25,965	205,717	177	4	76,548	546,829
7	Sweet Little Things	21,484	174,086	179	2	142,661	1,291,259
8	The Jungle Bunch: World Tour	21,061	105,759	441	17	1,440,868	8,536,038
9	The Beast	19,284	174,089	138	12	153,526	1,138,945
10	Just the Two of Us	15,236	98,048	120	4	81,373	549,519
11	Oh La La	15,050	99,415	140	7	682,896	6,013,532
12	Autumn and the Black Jaguar	14,646	90,790	274	11	2,365,620	16,613,047
13	Only 3 Days Left	11,758	88,531	225	2	241,741	1,684,306
14	Les Indésirables	11,440	66,748	61	2	16,592	116,484
15	Love Boat	10,542	114,532	45	2	10,542	114,532
16	The Three Musketeers - Milady	10,427	113,937	30	2	700,240	3,998,271
17	Bonnard, Pierre and Marthe	9,090	43,080	47	5	64,842	448,190
18	Deserts	8,697	66,611	60	1	8,697	66,611
19	The Braid	8,564	52,172	126	5	219,489	2,109,301
20	Rosalie	8,429	69,800	100	4	22,242	164,502

Box office results for French films abroad drop

French films registered nearly 1.5 million admissions and generated €11.4 million in ticket sales in foreign theaters in June. This is the lowest monthly admissions tally of the current year, and the lowest level recorded since September 2022. Like admissions, revenues, the number of films in release, the number of new releases, and the number of titles attracting more than 100,000 spectators (2) are at their lowest level of 2024. In the May report, attention focused on the exhibition sector, which was alerted to the state of ticket sales: very strong at the start of the year, and still following a steady upward trajectory since the reopening of theatres, they began to show signs of slowing, and even fell below the 2023 level in the spring. According to Gower Street, worldwide box-office in the first half of 2024 is estimated to be 10% lower than in 2023. Nevertheless, the month of June reversed this trend, with the best performance since August 2023. Two titles alone accounted for 50% of this performance: Inside Out 2 and Bad Boys: Ride or Die. Given that summer is the time of year for the launch of eagerly-awaited Hollywood blockbusters, other film genres' access to the screens will become harder, and the concentration of ticket sales on a limited number of films will intensify. Ladybug & Cat Noir Awakening and Jeanne du Barry each attracted millions of viewers outside France last summer: which French productions will pick up the torch this year? As in April and May, the biggest French success in June was a minority-French animated production: overtaken by Panda Bear in Africa in May, Robot Dreams moved back to head the charts for the second time.

As far as films with majority-French financing are concerned, the podium remained almost unchanged. A Little Something Extra continued its phenomenal ascent, attracting a further 167,000 moviegoers, closing in on 300,000 admissions in Belgium & Luxembourg (Vertigo) and 150,000 in French-speaking Switzerland (Praesens). The comedy was once again trailed by Cannes-selected The Taste of Things, chosen by 32,000 South Koreans (Green Narae, €0.21 million in box office revenues) and 18,000 New Zealanders (Rialto, €0.17 million). In the latter market, it already stands out as the second biggest post-Covid-19 French hit! As for The Animal Kingdom, it has climbed the rankings for the first time and is now in the top three, thanks in particular to the interest of 32,000 Italians (I Wonder, €0.19 million) and 27,000 Mexicans (Gussi, €0.10 million). One of the newcomers to the monthly top 5 is The Count of Monte Cristo. The eagerly-awaited new film adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' novel opened on screens in neighboring French-speaking territories at the same time as in France, greeted respectively by 20,000 Belgian & Luxembourg moviegoers (Alternative, €0.18 million) and 18,000 French-speakers (Pathé, €0.24 million). The Count of Monte Cristo has already claimed the title of best French-language opening of the current year in the French-speaking region of Switzerland.

The Count of Monte Cristo

China, Belgium, and the United States: the top three territories in June 2024

Europe remained the leading geographic zone for the theatrical releases of French films (55.4% of monthly admissions), but it saw the monthly number of spectators of French films halved compared to May, as did Latin America. While Oceania remained stable, it was Asia and North America that offered more admissions to French films (respectively: +196.3% and +33.8%), in both cases mainly thanks to the minority-French Robot Dreams, the only French title to attract more than 100,000 moviegoers outside Europe. The top trio of territories by admissions changed, with China, Belgium (& Luxembourg), and the USA (& English-speaking Canada). 4 foreign territories (8 in May, 7 in April, 14 in March, 13 in February and 6 in January) offered more than 100,000 admissions each to French productions in June 2024 (the top trio, plus Italy).

Comedy and genre films at the forefront as the most popular genres

In June, comedy/drama retained the crown as the preferred genre abroad (0.6 million spectators, 36.5% of the monthly total), thanks to the success of A Little Something Extra (1 in 3 admissions for the genre). While drama and animation completed the top 3, fantasy/horror/science fiction and documentaries were the only genres to attract more moviegoers than in May, the former benefiting from the latest launches of The Animal Kingdom. Majority-French productions (56% of total admissions) and French-language productions (80%) still accounted for the lion's share of admissions in June. The latter, along with minority-French productions, were the least affected by the drop in admissions (-15.5% and -23.8% respectively). Almost 0.3 million admissions went to arthouse films (18% of the monthly total), led by The Taste of Things.

French films at international film festivals in June 2024

In addition to three events organized by Unifrance – the French Film Festival in Poland, Francia está en pantalla in Spain, and the French Film Panorama in China – the month of June was also rich in festivals of all kinds, featuring numerous French films. In Mexico, the Guadalajara International Film Festival welcolmed Meanwhile on Earth by Jérémy Clapin, while the FICUNAM presented Dahomey by Mati Diop and All We Imagine as Light by Payal Kapadia, which took home the Audience Award. The FICUNAM also organized a tribute to Mathieu Amalric, in his presence (photo). Australian audiences at the Sydney Film Festival discovered Marcello Mio by Christophe Honoré, Suspended Time by Olivier Assayas, City of Wind by Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir, and The Flats by Alessandra Celesia. In Asia, the eclectic programe of the Shanghai International Film Festival, where Trần Anh Hùng was president of the jury, gave pride of place to French films, with a selection of some thirty works, including The Goldman Case and Making of by Cédric Kahn.

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

> This report is based on results recorded on July 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.