France’s box office continued to sail through an epic year of recovery in July, recording some 17.53 million admissions, 22.6% up on the same month last year, according to figures from the CNC. This equates to around €130m in box office revenue, based on an average ticket price of €7.40.
The total tally is just 4.7% less than in pre-pandemic July 2019 (18.3 million admissions), which was almost on par with 2023 (18.38 million) and 2024 (18.71 million). It is above several pre-Covid months, including 2018 (13.9 million), 2014 (15.6 million) and 2012 (17 million).
Admissions for the first seven months of the year now stand at 107.9 million (€800m), up 20.5% year-on-year and 4.2% above the same period in 2024. Over the first seven months of 2026, the market share for French films is 39.8%, with US titles commanding 46.8%.
Over the rolling 12-month period from August 2025 to July 2026, French cinemas boasted 174.5 million admissions, up from 167.6 million over the previous 12 months.
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey (Universal) charted the course, delivering the year’s biggest opening on its July 15 debut with 1.8 million admissions before dropping just 12% in its second weekend to another 1.6 million. The global blockbuster ended July with nearly 4 million admissions.
Sony’s Spider-Man: Brand New Day arrived two weeks later on July 29 and has already climbed the charts with more than 2.5 million admissions in its first five days in theatres, the best opening for a film in France since 2021. While its late-month arrival did not have a major impact on July’s final tally, the franchise film had the 11th best opening in the country of all time and is just starting its summer run.
Family-friendly summer releases also drove ticket sales, led by Disney’s Toy Story 5, which added 1.8 million admissions in July to bring its total tally to just under 4 million. Minions and Monsters added a further 1.5 million admissions to its previous 2.5 million total, and the live-action Moana also surpassed the 1.5 million mark.
Among French-made fare, Pathe’s two-part historical epic De Gaulle continued its robust theatrical trajectory with 2.3 million admissions in July for its two films combined. De Gaulle: Resistance and De Gaulle: Liberte have now sold more than 4 million tickets as they continue their battle to keep the attention of local audiences through the summer.
Local breakout hit Comédie-Française (Zinc) opened strong with 360,000 admissions since its July 22 launch after a multiple prize-winning debut at January’s Alpe d’Huez film festival and boosted by strong critical reviews and audience word of mouth.
Since its release on July 1, Supergirl has sold a slight 451,000 tickets for Warner Bros., but it was still among the biggest films of the month. Also spooking their way into July’s top 10 titles were horror hits Backrooms (Metropolitan Filmexport), which has now amassed some 1.4 admissions, and Obsession (Le Pacte), now at 1.6 million.
August prospects are strong with summer holidays, a heatwave continuing to sweep most of the country, and hot titles like The Odyssey and Spider-Man: Brand New Day expected to sustain momentum alongside a fresh wave of releases spanning family fare like Paw Patrol: The Dino Movie (Paramount), a slate of promising French comedies like Studio TF1’s Gendarme Academy and SND’s God Bless This Mess, and Cannes-premiering arthouse gems like All Of A Sudden and Fjord.
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