French box office resumes downward plunge in October

After a glimmer of hope in September, France’s box office returned to its downward trajectory in October.

Admissions for the month dropped by 16.3% compared to last year, according to CNC estimates for a total of 12.8 million, a gross of approximately €95m based on an average ticket price of €7.40.

It is the worst month of October since 2007’s total tally of 11.6 million admissions, excluding the pandemic year of 2020. Admissions totalled 121.8 million (€901m) through the first 10 months of the year, down 14.9% compared to the previous period last year.

The primary reason for the lacklustre performance has been a lack of particularly high-performing titles from either France or the US.

Since the beginning of the year, the average for the top film each week has been around 530,000 admissions, whereas the average in 2024 was 742,000 admissions, 784,000 in 2023, and 596,000 in 2022, when cinemas were still in post-Covid recovery.

French films have dominated new titles with a 37.9% market share for the first 10 months of the year, and US films at 29.9%.

Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another (Warner Bros) was the top film in October with nearly 900,000 admissions added to its 1.4 million total since being released on September 24. Otherwise, French films dominated the top slots of the month, led by Cedric Jimenez’s Dog 51 (Studiocanal) with nearly 800,000 tickets sold since its October 15 release and a now more than 1 million total tally.

It was followed by local comedies Cycle Of Time (UGC) with 636,000 admissions (now at 774,000) and the first of a two-part sequel to Alexandre Astier’s Kaamelott (SND) with 536,000 admissions since its October 22 release (now 776,000).

Jafar Panahi’s Palme d’Or-winning It Was Just An Accident (Memento) has performed well with 568,000 admissions since its October 1 release last month, and now has 620,000 admissions.

Total admissions for the rolling year (November 2024 to October 2025) stand at 161 million admissions, down 8.8% from 176 million the year before.

While it is looking nearly impossible for the box office to recover enough to equal or best last year’s total of 181.3 million admissions, thanks mostly to a handful of strong local blockbusters, the industry is holding out hope for the last two months of the year.

Potential big hitters in November include Predator: Badlands (Disney), Now You See Me 3 (SND), Wicked: Part 2 (Universal), Zootopia 2 (Disney) and Running Man (Paramount).

French titles generating buzz are comedies T’as Pas Changé (Studiocanal), Lucky Star (UGC), Unsubmissives (Apollo Films) and Jean Valjean (Warner Bros.).

The arthouse releases poised to stand out include The Great Arch (Le Pacte), Two Prosecutors (Pyramide), Case 137 (Haut Et Court), A Private Life (Ad Vitam), Bugonia (Universal) and The Voice Of Hind Rajab (Jour2Fête).

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