France's box office took a 3% hit in the first three months of 2007 compared with last year. The total number of admissions came to 51.2m versus 52.8m in 2006 for the period of January through March, according to figures announced Wednesday by France's National Cinema Federation (FNCF).

It should be noted that the first quarter of 2006 was especially profitable thanks to Patrice Leconte's Les Bronzes 3, which was released in February and raked in 10.3m admissions in two months before going on to claim the number one spot for the year.

This year, French films have also fared well with Olivier Dahan's La Vie En Rose (4.9m admissions for the period) and Gerard Krawczyk's Taxi 4 (4.5m admissions for the period) leading the pack. Ben Stiller vehicle Night At The Museum was also a strong performer.

In January, Luc Besson's Arthur And The Minimoys showed its legs after a Christmas release and ultimately sold 6.3m tickets. March was a good month as well for the Springtime of Cinema promotion organized by the FNCF which brought in 2.6m moviegoers, on par with last year.

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