France’s box office has confirmed its comeback with 19.1 million ticket sales in April, up 37.8% from the same month in 2022 and a 2.7% increase from the 2017-2019 average, marking the first time admissions have exceeded pre-pandemic levels.
Universal’s Super Mario Bros released on April 5, took the top spot for the month and, with more than 4.8m tickets sold to date, reigns as the top film of the year in the territory. Pathé’s The Three Musketeers – d’Artagnan, also released on April 5, followed with 2.3m tickets sold. The French-language blockbuster is the first of a two-part epic whose second installment The Three Musketeers -Milady will be released on December 13. Paramount’s Dungeons & Dragons: Honour Among Thieves,
Studiocanal’s French-language drama All Your Faces (Je verrai Toujours Vos Visages)produced by Chi-Fou-Mi Productions and Trésor Films and John Wick 4 (Metropolitan) rounded out the top five for the month.
Fifty-nine films were released in French theatres in April, just under the 65 releases in April 2022, and included five US films and 32 French titles. French films boasted a 47.4% market share for the first four months of the year, with US titles snagging 42.5%.
Comeback
The first three months of the year saw notable rises in ticket sales compared to 2022 – a 41.1% jump in January, 39.8% in February and 18.8% in March – but the figures remained far below the 2017-2019 pre-pandemic average for each month (15.1% less in January, 21.3% in February and 19.7% in March). Ticket sales rose 34%% during the first four months of the year compared to January – April 2022, but still lag behind the 2017-2019 average for the same period by 13.9% and are down year on year (May 2022 – April 2023) 18.1%.
May looks promising for the local box office as Cannes comes calling, complete with Maiwenn’s period drama Jeanne du Barry that will hit French theatres via Le Pacte on the same day it opens the film festival on May 16. Disney’s Guardians of the Galaxy 3 (May 3) and The Little Mermaid (May 24), Universal’s Fast & Furious x (May 17) and the continued rollout of Super Mario Bros. and The Three Musketeers – d’Artagnan should keep numbers steady and rising in the month ahead.
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