Despite a promising summer blockbuster boost and August upswing, France’s September box office struggled with just 8.8m ticket sales and a total gross of approximately €63.2m, based on an average ticket price of €7.
The September slump was down 21.1% compared to the pre-pandemic 2017-2019 average and the lowest since 2005 (8.4m).
However it was up 16.1% from last year’s abysmal 7.6m admissions. Last September’s record low marked the worst month at the French box office since 1980, excluding the pandemic-ridden 2020 when cinemas were closed for most of the year.
Admissions for the first nine months of the year totalled 134m (approximately €965m), 9.4% less than the pre-pandemic average but up 27.8% compared to the same period last year.
The French box office has been gradually bouncing back since the start of the year, with ticket sales rising nearly every month excluding June and September. July and August figures even topped pre-pandemic averages. However, the summer to autumn period continues to be a challenging transition for French exhibitors.
“September is always low,” said Marc-Olivier Sebbag, executive director of France’s National Cinema Federation (FNCF). “People are back from summer holidays, they have other things to do.”
Distributors have responded to this over the years by releasing smaller films in September. The biggest film for the month was Sony’s The Equalizer 3 (787,000 admissions), released Aug. 30, followed by Warner Bros’ supernatural thriller The Nun 2 (727,000 admissions) that was shot completely in France.
A bright spot was the steady ongoing run of Justine Triet’s Palme d’Or-winning Anatomy Of A Fall. Released by Le Pacte it has now garnered a total of 1.1m admissions (approximately €7.8m) since its August 23 release. The courtroom drama has now sold more tickets than 2022 Palme d’Or winner Ruben Ostlund’s Triangle Of Sadness which secured 570,000 admissions for Bac Films. After just five weeks in theatres, Anatomy could still rival Bong Joon-ho’s Oscar-winning Parasite that sold 1.9m tickets for Les Bookmakers/ The Jokers in 2019.
Further French-language releases in September included Thomas Lilti’s San Sebastian premiere A Real Job (370,000 for Le Pacte), Michel Gondry’s Cannes Directors’ Fortnight feature The Book Of Solutions (325,000 for Les Bookmakers / The Jokers), Nathan Ambrosioni’s Toni En Famille, starring Camille Cottin (250,000 for Studiocanal) and Guillaume Nicloux’s The Baby (206,000 for SND).
Yearly outlook
The box office looks poised to surpass 2022’s 152m in annual ticket sales. “October and November is a huge period for the French box office,” said Sebbag, who predicted France will end 2023 with between 185-190m in total ticket sales.
Upcoming releases that could bring the box office back up include October’s family feature The Trolls 3 (Universal), Martin Scorsese’s Killers Of The Flower Moon (Paramount) and the always crowd-pleasing duo Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache’s A Difficult Year (Gaumont).
November brings France’s Oscar entry The Taste Of Things (Gaumont), Wish (Disney) and Ridley Scott’s Napoleon (Sony) before December gifts the French box office with both Wonka (Warner Bros) and Pathe’s second instalment of two-part The Three Musketeers – Milady.
Sebbag admits it will be tough to beat 2019’s banner year of 213.3m admissions, the highest level since 2011’s 217.2m. But “since October of 2022, other than just two months - June and September – there’s been a steady increase in ticket sales. Globally, it’s a positive situation,” he said.
Even if the figures are under 2019’s notable numbers, “the number of admissions may lag, but box office revenue is still going up” owing to rising ticket prices due to inflation. Sebbag added: “We’re optimistic.”
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