French films at the international box office: September 2024

**The Count of Monte Cristo** retained its lead position of the most-seen French film in international cinemas in September. A Little Something Extra and **Acid** took second and third place.
#	Title	No. of Admissions	Box Office Revenues (€)	No. of Prints	No. of Countries	Total Admissions	Total Revenues
1	The Count of Monte Cristo	725,780	4,293,527	1,853	14	1,594,502	11,966,066
2	A Little Something Extra	205,907	1,836,233	687	7	815,723	8,148,142
3	Acid	113,210	308,786	345	9	557,706	1,788,674
4	Survive	100,096	374,119	754	2	104,132	409,423
5	Week-end à Taipei	76,997	764,925	268	11	76,997	764,,925
6	An Ordinary Case	73,583	536,172	209	3	73,583	536,172
7	King of My Castle	58,260	212,618	798	2	81,502	374,561
8	Argonuts	53,575	393,610	491	3	2,022,537	12,468,469
9	The Taste of Things	51,309	255,102	176	7	1,544,941	12,300,432
10	Riviera Revenge	45,586	340,164	251	5	279,167	2,442,711
11	Wake Up	36,888	105,969	463	7	100,053	308,049
12	Emilia Pérez	36,141	349,885	53	2	61,772	594,199
13	Maria Montessori	30,800	241,986	271	8	463,192	3,959,218
14	The Price Of Money: A Largo Winch Adventure	30,502	141,429	898	3	104,677	529,554
15	At the End of The Day	27,731	174,110	81	1	27,731	174,110
16	Emmanuelle	19,291	174,941	376	5	19,291	174,941
17	Driving Madeleine	17,800	64,593	40	1	840,940	7,159,908
18	The Goldman Case	17,480	131,758	72	4	61,570	440,342
19	Sidonie in Japan	16,797	86,345	84	5	120,731	905,753
20	Marguerite's Theorem	15,274	99,085	95	4	132,603	1,008,232

Box office results for French films abroad remain solid

French films attracted 2.5 million spectators and generated €16.0 million in international box-office revenues in September. The upturn seen in August continued, although attendance fell by 12.2%. The number of new releases fell proportionally, by the same order of magnitude as tickets sold (-12.3%). Digging into details, we discover that majority-French productions attracted 25,000 more moviegoers than in August. It was the performance of minority-French-financed films (-43.2% in one month) that weakened the overall total. International attendance for French films in September reached the fourth highest level of all months in 2024. This was a gratifying score, considering that September is historically the month when the global box-office plunges to its lowest annual level.
And 2024 is no exception to the rule: according to Gower Street, global box office for September pulled in $1.8 billion, making it the lowest grossing month of the last 12. Revenues were 6% below September 2023 and 24% below the 2017-2019 average. In September 2023, French films attracted 3.5 million foreign moviegoers, 1.1 million of whom were captured by Ladybug & Cat Noir Awakening.

The top three: The Count of Monte Cristo, A Little Something Extra, and Acid. The leading titles remained unchanged by genre and almost identical by film (Riviera Revenge dropped to ninth place). The Count of Monte Cristo retained the crown for the third month running, with 725,000 tickets sold in 14 markets outside France, including 339,000 in Russia (Atmosfera, €1.58 million) and 111,000 in Ukraine (Green Light, €0.46 million). The film adaptation of the historical adventure novel now boasts 323,000 admissions in Belgium & Luxembourg (Alternative, €3.36 million), 268,000 in Spain (Beta Fiction, €1.78 million), and 135,000 in Poland (Kino Swiat, €0.71 million). The Count of Monte Cristo broke the 1.5 million international admissions barrier! The same feat was achieved by The Taste of Things, still anchored in the monthly top 10, as well as Argonuts, which celebrated two million foreign fans, while Acid passed the half-million mark. Thanks to its release in German-speaking territories, A Little Something Extra's international career got back on track, with 147,000 admissions in Germany €1.78 million), 24,000 in Austria (Constantin, €0.24 million), and 11,000 in German-speaking Switzerland (Praesens, €0.9 million). The appeal of genre films for certain audiences seen in August was confirmed in September, with 113,000 and 100,000 people respectively seeing Acid (Latin America) and Survive (Russia and Thailand) on the big screen. An Ordinary Case, King of My Castle, and Wake Up made their first appearance in the monthly top 10. In all, five French films attracted more than 100,000 foreign viewers each in September (including one minority-French production), four were released in more than 10 markets, and 28 others in between five and nine.

Russia, Germany, and Spain: the top three territories in September

Some 83% of monthly viewers were located in Europe, with only 17% outside the continent's borders. In Central and Eastern Europe and in Africa and the Near and Middle East, audiences were higher than in August, while they fell in all other regions (between -50% and -60% in the Americas, Asia, and Oceania). Acid was the only title to attract more than 100,000 moviegoers outside Europe: thanks to this film's solid run, Peru remained in the top 10 territories (#8), the only non-European country to make it there. More than 0.5 million tickets sold (20.9% of the monthly total) enabled Russia to move to the top of the territories and replace Germany (which moved into second position, 10.5%). Seven foreign territories (seven in August, four in July and June, eight in May, seven in April, 14 in March, 13 in February and six in January) offered more than 100,000 admissions each to French productions in September, and accounted for two-thirds of the monthly total.

Animation, comedy, and drama moved to the forefront

In September, animation regained its leadership and contributed a third of total admissions, buoyed by 129,000 tickets for the minority-French production Panda Bear in Africa. "Reliable" comedy and drama rounded out the podium, with the former boosted by new releases of A Little Something Extra. Fantasy/horror/science fiction also gained fans, and was the only genre to have two titles in its ranks generating over 100,000 admissions each: Acid and Survive. Majority-French productions (80.4% of total admissions) and French-language productions (80.1%) still accounted for the lion's share of the month's admissions. More than 0.4 million admissions went to arthouse films (16.8% of the monthly total), led by The Taste of Things, Emilia Pérez, and Maria Montessori.

French films at international festivals in September 2024

In September, French cinema was once again well represented at international festivals, as The Story of Souleymane demonstrated. In addition to TIFF where it was selected in the Centerpiece strand, Boris Lojkine's social thriller traveled to four other festivals, from the Villa Medici Film Festival, to the Pingyao International Film Festival, via the Helsinki International Film Festival and the Hamburg International Film Festival At Pingyao, Lojkine was even awarded the Roberto Rossellini Award for Best Director. In a different register, When Fall Is Coming was unanimously acclaimed at its world premiere at the San Sebastián International Film Festival. The film won François Ozon the Best Screenplay Award and Pierre Lottin the Best Supporting Performance Award (photo). Lottin was also on hand to represent Emmanuel Courcol's The Marching Band, selected in the Perlak strand.

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

This report is based on results recorded on October 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.