Admissions in France grew 12% in the first five months of the year, hitting 86.5 million spectators.

According to the new data from the Centre National de la Cinematographie (CNC) there were some 11 million tickets sold in May, an increase of 11%. Lifted by films such as Amelie From Montmartre and Yamakasi the market share for domestic French productions was 53% in the first five months of the year. That compares with an annual average of 30%-35%.

Over a running 12-month period total attendances were up 4.6% to reach 175 million.