French film production dipped slightly in 2025, but co-productions and foreign investment rose considerably, according to the CNC’s annual study published on March 19.
Shake-ups in the country’s windowing system for feature films last year, including anticipated budget cuts from Canal+ and a pledge to invest more in local cinema from Disney, are already impacting the industry.
The number of French films produced fell by 6% in 2025 to 290, of which 228 were French majority titles and 62 were minority co-productions.
Despite the overall drop in production, co-productions have increased. There were 137 feature co-productions in France in 2025, seven more than in 2024. The sharpest rise was in majority co-productions, which rose from 52 in 2024 to 75 last year, the highest figure since 2015. Minority co-productions declined year on year from 78 to 62.
Co-productions accounted for 47% of the total number of films, up from 2024’s 42% and the second-highest level after 2022 when they hit 50%. France co-produced with 41 countries in 2025, including 38 films as a majority co-producer with Belgium.
Germany was the leading production territory for French minority co-productions with 13 films.
Total investment in CNC-approved films hit €1.37bn over the year, a 4.8% drop due to a decline in French investment to €1.08bn and despite a rise in foreign investment to €294.3m, the highest level since 2012.
Streamer spending shifts
Early last year, Disney signed a landmark agreement with France’s film and TV industry, agreeing to increase its investment obligations in local production – 25% of its annual revenue in France and a minimum guarantee to invest in 70 films over the next three years – in exchange for a shorter nine-month window between a film’s theatrical release and availability on its platform.
It is delivering on this commitment, investing in 24 films in 2025 compared to 10 in 2024 and quadrupling its spend to €28m from €7.2m.
By comparison, Netflix produced 25 films in 2025 and spent €40m. Netflix maintains its position as the leading streamer investor at 52% of total streamer investment in 2025, although that is significantly down from 2024 when it dominated with an 80% share.
Prime Video’s investment in French cinema also continued to decline, with the Amazon-owned company investing €5.6m in 2025, down from €6.4m in 2024 and €10.2m in 2023.
Warner Bros Discovery’s HBO Max, which launched in France in 2024, upped its investment from two French films in 2024 to three in 2025, while Paramount+, which has been operating in the country since 2022, invested in local film production for the first time last year, spending €1.2m on four features.
In total, 55 films were financed by the US streamers in 2025, up from 45 in 2024. Since 2021, the streamers have invested €222.8m in 159 features.
Canal+ cuts felt
Following the agreement with Disney, Canal+ announced it was cutting investment in local film production from €600m between 2022-2024 to €480m for 2025-2027. As a result, 2025 saw a 14% drop in investment to €155.6m, although the company remains by far the leading film funder in France.
CNC director of research and statistics Cecile Lacoue warned the Canal+ cuts will bite even harder this year: “Some of the production approved in 2025 benefited from the old agreement. The full effects of the new agreement have not yet been felt. We should expect a further decline in 2026. Already, Canal+ invested in 130 films in 2025, but still 23 fewer than in 2024.”
In other notable takeaways from the vast study, only four films were made for budgets of more than €20m in 2025, compared to eight in 2024. The biggest budget French production of 2025 was Xavier Giannoli’s €31m Second World War drama Rays & Shadows, starring Jean Dujardin, followed by Guillaume Canet’s €24m Karma for Pathe, Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s €21.3m Violette for Studiocanal, and the €20.7m animation Wings Of Freedom.
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