French films at the international box office: October 2024

The Count of Monte Cristo maintained its top position in the monthly rankings. Survive and Zak & Wowo, la légende de Lendarys claimed second and third places.


#	Title	No. of Admissions	Box Office Revenues (€)	No. of Prints	No. of Countries	Total Admissions	Total Revenues
1	The Count of Monte Cristo	968,620	4,855,832	1,472	17	2,563,371	16,833,819
2	Survive	166,735	550,377	1,155	5	270,966	960,206
3	Zak & Wowo, la légende de Lendarys	145,321	390,474	1,278	3	263,087	900,121
4	Week-end à Taipei	125,521	758,646	1,113	13	202,518	1,523,571
5	Beating Hearts	79,402	947,129	110	2	79,402	947,129
6	Bambi : A Tale of Life in the Woods	75,383	305,934	998	5	75,383	305,934
7	L'Heureuse Élue	50,074	432,323	36	3	53,036	478,878
8	A Little Something Extra	46,510	18,602	442	9	869,766	8,646,856
9	Maria Montessori	45,447	236,094	157	5	508,642	4,195,338
10	All We Imagine as Light	39,737	262,753	85	1	39,737	262,753
11	When Fall Is Coming	38,970	384,131	101	3	38,970	384,131
12	Emilia Pérez	38,385	394,579	127	3	100,214	989,654
13	Vermin	37,784	113,753	253	2	306,596	1,188,221
14	The Animal Kingdom	30,203	96,205	85	6	220,689	1,144,608
15	An Ordinary Case	29,508	214,175	103	3	102,184	741,026
16	Monsieur Aznavour	29,243	309,661	55	2	29,243	309,661
17	Argonuts	23,216	153,729	242	4	2,046,108	12,623,205
18	The Story of Souleymane	20,670	162,448	48	2	20,670	162,448
19	Dahomey	20,032	164,753	197	11	22,881	187,342
20	At the End of The Day	18,561	112,896	40	1	46,292	287,006

Box office results for French films abroad increased slightly

French films registered nearly 2.6 million admissions and generated €15.4 million in ticket sales in foreign theaters in October. The upturn seen in August and September continued, with attendance levels up by a substantial 3.5% month-on-month. While the number of films in theaters remained high, the number of new releases was down sharply on September (-27%), making this the lowest level for any month in 2024. French-language and majority-French productions attracted more foreign moviegoers than in September (+10.5% and +4%), accounting for 86% and 81% of ticket sales respectively. Among the minority-French films, Panda Bear in Africa (170,000 admissions) alone accounted for almost half of the audience in this category. International figures for French films in October reached the fourth-highest level of the current year, an encouraging result that stabilizes a curve whose trend was sharply reversed in June and July.

Zak & Wowo, la légende de LendarysThe top three titles were The Count of Monte-Cristo, Survive, and Zak & Wowo, la légende de Lendarys. The Count of Monte Cristo maintained its stranglehold on the chart for the fourth month running, with 968,000 tickets sold in 17 markets outside France. In addition to continuing its successful careers in Russia (Atmosfera, 910,000 admissions and €4.29 million in total box office revenues) and Ukraine (Green Light, 157,000 and €0.66 million), the adventure film entered a new geographic zone, Latin America. 203,000 Mexicans (Zima, €0.85 million) and 27,000 Colombians (Cine Colombia, €0.08 million) flocked to see it on the big screen, thereby propulsing it into the respective local top 10 rankings. With this momentum, the milestone of three million international admissions should be reached and surpassed by the end of November!
Mexico gave a warm welcome to another French production, Survive, chosen by 75,000 genre film enthusiasts (Gussi, €0.21 million). Buoyed by an additional 75,000 tickets sold in Russia (Global, 163,000 and €0.62 million), Survive climbed from fourth to second place in the monthly rankings, and now boasts three times as many international admissions than those generated domestically.
After adventure and fantasy, it was animation's turn to mount to third position on October's podium, thanks to Zak & Wowo. 145,000 young and old discovered it in Russia this month (Nashe Kino, €0.39 million), which became the leading foreign market in terms of audience numbers for this film, as it was for the other two mentioned above. The top 10 once again welcomed A Little Something Extra and Maria Montessori – the latter reaching half a million admissions outside France – but also left room for newcomers. Beating Hearts got off to a strong start in Belgium & Luxembourg and in French-speaking Switzerland, the first foreign territories where L'Heureuse Élue (third in the Hungarian weekly top 10 in its opening week) and When Fall Is Coming (which also released in the Netherlands) also made their debuts. We should also not forget Bambi : A Tale of Life in the Woods and its five openings. In all, five French films attracted more than 100,000 foreign viewers each in October, four were released in more than 10 markets, and 21 others in between five and nine.

Russia, Mexico, and Belgium: the top three territories in October

SurviveSome 79% of monthly viewers were in Europe, and only 21% outside the territory. In Central and Eastern Europe (+18%) and Latin America (+97%), ticket sales were higher than in September, while in all other regions they were lower. Eastern Europe became the leading region in terms of ticket sales (44% of the total), ahead of Western Europe (35%) and Latin America (18%). The Count of Monte Cristo (244,000 admissions) and Survive (78,000) were the most popular films outside Europe. Unsurprisingly, Russia remained the top territory for French cinema (932,000 admissions, 35.5%), ahead of Mexico (285,000, 11%), and Belgium & Luxembourg (236,000, 9%). Five foreign territories (seven in September and 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 October, and accounted for two-thirds of the monthly total.

Adventure, drama, and animation took center stage

La Nouvelle FemmeIn October, adventure generated 1.13 million international admissions (43% of the total), boosted by the success of The Count of Monte Cristo. Drama won by a narrow margin over animation, which could count on two titles with over 100,000 spectators each (Zak & Wowo and Panda Bear in Africa, a minority-French production). Comedies and genre films were neck and neck, and biopics came back into the spotlight. The arrival of Bambi, A Tale of a Life in the Woods and Golden Bear winner Dahomey in many markets breathed new life into documentaries, which attracted over 100,000 fans in October. Last but not least, over 0.4 million admissions went to arthouse films (16% of the monthly total), with Maria Montessori leading the way, followed by All We Imagine as Light, When Fall is Coming, and Emilia Pérez.

French films at international film festivals in October 2024

In October, two majority-French productions were notably present at international festivals. Raoul Peck's Ernest Cole, Lost and Found featured in no fewer than seven events, including the Busan International Film Festival, Zurich Film Festival, and the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma de Montréal. What's more, the Haitian filmmaker was awarded the Humanity Award at the Mostra de São Paulo. Launched at Locarno, Red Path by Franco-Tunisian Lotfi Achour, also screened in São Paulo and at the Warsaw Film Festival, where it left with a Special Mention in the Crème de la Crème section. But it was at the Festival International du Film Francophone de Namur, which wrapped on October 4, that the feature won the precious Bayard d'or for Best Film (photo below), as well as Best Cinematography.