More than 206m admissions for France, but no single film has more than 6m admissions.

General attendance in French movies theaters gained 2.6% in 2010, reaching a level that hasn’t been seen since the non-digital year of 1967. That year 211.45m admissions were recorded, and now in 2010 more than 206.49m admissions were recorded, according to the CNC.

That represents estimated revenue of $1.645bn.

In November, it had been predicted that the year would end even more strongly. But the especially cold and snowy weather in December hampered admissions, despite major blockbuster releases.

3D releases were one factor in driving more admissions.

As usual, local films were also a big draw. With 35.5% of the share market, French films only slipped 0.9% from 2009 and had 73.35m admissions.

US films’ marketshare lost 1.6% to 47.7%, so the market for films from “other parts of the world” is up to 16.8%, the best result since 1983 thanks to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, which counts as a UK production.

For a few weeks, hopes of the French industry was that Guillaume Canet’s Little White Lies (Les petits mouchoirs) was going to be the most successful film at the box-office but HP7 put a spell on that and gained the prize in the end: on Dec 31 the Gallic ensemble comedy-drama with Marion Cotillard had 5.25 admissions versus 5.29 for Potter.

A striking fact from these figures is that 2010 lacked massive hits like some past years. Unlike in previous years, no films drew more than 6m admissions.

French Box Office, 2010
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - 5.29 million admissions
Little White Lies (Les petits mouchoirs) - 5.25 million admissions
Inception - 4.91 million admissions
Shrek 4 - 4.53 million admissions
Alice in Wonderland - 4.53 million admissions
Toy Story 3 - 4.32 million admissions
Camping 2 - 3.94 million admissions
Twilight Saga: Eclipse - 3.93 million admissions
Heartbreaker (L’arnacoeur) - 3.73 million admissions
The Princess and the Frog - 3.72 million admissions

(Anne Laure Bell contributed to this report)