Admissions to French films in international markets in 2025 increased 6% year on year to 42.5 million, according to projected annual figures from Unifrance. This equates to an estimated gross of around €272m.
This compares to 2024’s final tally of €271.7m and 40.1 million admissions. The figures are on par with 2023’s €271.8m and 42.8 million admissions, but still down by 26% compared to the 2017-2019 pre-pandemic average.
Latvian director Gints Zilbalodis’ Oscar-winning Flow, a minority French production, was the top film of the year, selling 7.8m tickets in 2025 or some €39.3m in 59 territories outside of France and has a cumulative total of 8.2m admissions and €42.7m. Paris-based Sacrebleu Productions was a co-producer, and backing came from Arte France Cinema and Canal Plus. Charades handled international sales.
Flow is the fourth most successful French animation of all time in international markets.
Top 10 French films in 2025 outside France
| Ranking | Film | Admissions | Box office | Cume admissions | Cume box office | Territories |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Flow* | 7.8m | $39.3m | 8.2m | 42.7m | 59 |
| 2 | Dracula: A Love Tale | 3.7m | $22.3m | 3.7m | 22.3m | 41 |
| 3 | I’m Still Here* | 2.3m | $18.9m | 2.3m | 18.9m | 36 |
| 4 | Pets on a Train | 2,3m | $11.6m | 2.3m | 11.6m | 43 |
| 5 | Night of the Zoopocalypse* | 1.7m | $8.7m | 1.7m | 8.7m | 40 |
| 6 | Emilia Pérez | 1.6m | $9.9m | 2.1m | 13.5m | 50 |
| 7 | The Marching Band | 1.2m | $10m | 1.4m | 11.9m | 31 |
| 8 | Sentimental Value* | 0.8m | $7.4m | 0.8m | 7.4m | 14 |
| 9 | It Was Just an Accident | 0.7m | $5.7m | 0.7m | 5.7m | 29 |
| 10 | Moon the Panda | 0.6m | $4.2m | 0.6m | 4.2m | 43 |
*Minority French-funding
There were two further animated titles in the top 10 French films of 2025 internationally: Pets On A Train with 2.3m admissions (€11.6m), the fourth best performing film of the year, followed by Night Of The Zoopocalypse with 1.7m admissions (€8.7m) in the number five spot.
Animated films amassed more than 13 million admissions last year, accounting for some 34.4% of international ticket sales. That is a notable increase from just 17.7% in 2024, the third-best cumulative total for the genre (21.7m in 2015 and 15.2m in 2017), and the highest market share for the genre to date.
Live-action fiction films remain the most-watched genre of French films internationally, making up 64% of the total admissions. Documentary films accounted for just 1.7% of admissions.
Within the fiction category, drama dominated with 9.1m admissions, 23.6% of all fiction films, followed by comedy with 7.8m (20.3%). Fantasy and horror were also popular genres with 4m admissions and 10.3% of total fiction ticket sales.
Luc Besson’s Dracula was the second biggest performer outside France.
It sold more tickets in Italy (723,000) and Russia (1.8m) than it did in France (651,000).
Other top 10 French films of the year in international markets included Brazilian director Walter Salles’ Portuguese-language I’m Still Here in the third slot with 2.3m admissions (€18.9m). MACT Productions was the minority co-producer on the film which was also backed by Arte France Cinema, Canal Plus and Cine+-OCS.
Jacques Audiard’s English and Spanish-language Emilia Perez was in sixth place with 1.6m admissions (€9.9m) in 2025, and a total of 2.1m admissions (€13.5m) to date.
Further minority French co-productions to perform well internationally include festival and awards favourites Joachim Trier’s Norwegian-language Sentimental Value and Jafar Panahi’s Iranian drama It Was Just An Accident.
Emmanuel Courcol’s local French box office hit The Marching Band, Gilles de Maistre’s animal adventure tale Moon The Panda were among other top performers.
Seven French films passed the 1 million admissions mark internationally, accounting for 53.6% of the total admissions: Dracula, Emilia Perez, Pets On A Train, The Marching Band, Flow, I’m Still Here and Night Of The Zoopocalypse.
Gilles Renouard, head of cinema at Unifrance, suggested such overperforming titles are “a positive sign and necessary for the market for French films in international markets. We need tentpole films to boost admissions and support the smaller films”.
Top market
Mexico was the biggest market for French films in 2025, accounting for 4.2 million admissions, followed by Italy with 4m, Germany and Russia with 3.2m each, Spain on par with the US and English-speaking Canada with 2.2m, then Belgium and Luxembourg with 1.7m.
French film admissions in 2025 by territory
| Ranking | Territory | Admissions | % of total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mexico | 4.2m | 11% |
| 2 | Italy | 4m | 10.5% |
| 3 | Germany | 3.2m | 8.3% |
| 4 | Russia | 3.2m | 8.3% |
| 5 | Spain | 3.2m | 5.7% |
| 6 | US & Canada | 2.2m | 5.6% |
| 7 | Belgium and Luxembourg | 1.7m | 4.5% |
| 8 | UK & Ireland | 1.4m | 3.6% |
| 9 | Brazil | 1.3m | 3.3% |
| 10 | Poland | 1.1m | 2.8% |
UK- Ireland was the eighth best market for French films with 1.4m admissions. Rounding out the top 10 territories were Brazil with 1.3m admissions and Poland with 1.1m.
Latin America has become the second largest region for French cinema in terms of the number of admissions, behind Western Europe and ahead of Central and Eastern Europe. Unifrance tallied 8.8 million Latin American admissions that made up 23.1% of the international market in 2025, which is a record for the region.
Festivals - quality over quantity
French films did not dominate top-tier festivals as they have for the prior four consecutive years since 2021. In 2025, US titles swept in, accounting for 23.1% of films at the top 10 festivals studied by Unifrance, though France was a close second with 20%. Films from Germany (11.1%) and Spain (8.9%) followed, and the UK and Italy tied in fifth place with 8.4%.
In 2025, France noted a 7.9% drop in the number of films programmed (233) at festivals compared to 2024.
According to Unifrance, the downturn is due to two factors, namely a strong comeback for US films after several years impacted by Hollywood strikes in Hollywood and the pandemic, and second, less of a French presence in Berlin, halved from the year before.
“France was leading the charge at festivals during the Covid years because our system allowed us to produce films when other countries could not, particularly in the US,” said Renouard. “Now France is back where it was before the pandemic.”
Even with less films in selection, France took home the most awards – 52 total - across all categories at festivals, including Cannes’ Palme d’Or for Jafar Panahi’s It Was Just An Accident, a Berlin Silver Bear for outstanding artistic contribution for Lucile Hadžihalilović’s The Ice Tower and best screenplay in Venice for Valerie Donzelli’s At Work.
Cannes was the most popular festival for French titles, where 60.7% of 2025’s selection was French, followed by Locarno (34.1%), San Sebastian (28.7%), Busan (27.6%) then Venice (25.2%) and Berlin all the way down in the ninth slot with 13.3%.
Finally, despite a downswing in the number of French films presented, the market share for French women directors at festivals rose to 38.6% (36.0% in 2024), while it fell to 33.4% compared to 2024’s 35% among films of all nationalities combined.
Eligibilty
Unifrance identifies French films as titles that received approval for investments or production from the CNC or are considered French by Unifrance. The box office of minority-French films in the home country of the majority coproducer have not been included.
All figures from Unifrance.
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