French Movies Saw 11% Drop in International Box Office in 2024 With Estimated $255 Million Gross Despite Success of ‘The Count of Monte-Cristo’

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2024 was a standout year for French cinema domestically, holding a 44% share of the French box office and surpassing a 15-year record. However, Gallic films experienced an 11% decrease in foreign earnings compared to the previous year, as revealed by data presented at the Rendez-Vous market event in Paris on Monday by the National Film Board (CNC) and Unifrance.

From January to early December 2024, French films earned approximately 227.2 million US dollars (around 222.8 million euros) from ticket sales outside of France, with a total of 33.4 million admissions. Based on predictions for ticket sales in the latter half of December, Unifrance estimates that the final international box office will be around 38 million admissions and approximately 255.2 million US dollars (around 250 million euros) in revenue.

Although “The Count of Monte-Cristo” doesn’t compete for France in the Oscars, this epic three-hour adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’ renowned novel is the largest French movie export in 2024.

The film, produced by Chapter 2 (owned by Dimitri Rassam’s Mediawan) and distributed internationally by Pathé, has earned approximately 20.7 million euros from ticket sales of 3.3 million across 54 countries. This grand adventure-thriller, directed by Matthieu Delaporte and Alexandre de la Patellière, features Pierre Niney as Edmond Dantès, a sailor falsely accused of treason, imprisoned for 14 years, who seeks revenge after losing everything. In France, this film was the highest-grossing locally with nearly 10 million admissions sold in 2024. The movie made its U.S. debut on Dec. 20 in New York and Los Angeles, followed by additional U.S. cities in January, under Samuel Goldwyn Films’ distribution.

1. In 2024, “The Count of Monte Cristo” was surpassed by three top French-language films exported: Justine Triet’s Academy Award-winning film “Anatomy of a Fall” (with 4.9 million tickets sold), Tran Anh Hung’s upcoming French Oscar submission “The Taste of Things” (1.6 million tickets), and Gilles de Maistre’s youth-oriented movie “Autumn and the Black Jaguar,” which garnered 2.4 million tickets abroad. All three films had their world premieres at the Cannes Film Festival, and the organization also considered French movies that were filmed in English.

In 2024, “The Count of Monte Cristo” was outranked by Justine Triet’s Academy Award-winning film “Anatomy of a Fall” and Tran Anh Hung’s French Oscar submission “The Taste of Things,” as well as Gilles de Maistre’s youth-focused movie “Autumn and the Black Jaguar.” These three films, which had their world premieres at Cannes, were among the top French-language film exports last year. The organization also evaluated French movies filmed in English, such as “Autumn and the Black Jaguar.”)

According to Unifrance, the decrease in foreign viewings of French films can be partially attributed to the lack of a popular family-oriented blockbuster like “Miraculous: The Movie,” which racked up 7.5 million ticket sales abroad in 2023.

During their presentation, Olivier Henrard (interim president of CNC) and Gilles Renouard (co-managing director of Unifrance) highlighted that the global box office decline of 9% in the first 11 months of 2024 mirrored the international performance of French cinema, suggesting a general downward trend.

Examining factors behind the drop in movie theater attendance, Unifrance attributes it to post-COVID recovery and the effects of Hollywood strikes. Renouard stated that, “Initially, the 2024 film market was hampered by the lack of significant Hollywood releases due to five months of actors’ and writers’ strikes, but this absence eventually opened doors for other film industries to grab more screen time.”

The report also emphasized the visibility of French films on streaming platforms, with France ranking fifth globally in terms of foreign films released on these platforms in 2024, holding a 3.8% market share. French movies were prevalent at the top 10 international film festivals such as Cannes, Venice, and Berlin, making up 22.8% of the selections—a larger presence than any other country. It is predicted that 2025 will see French cinema flourish internationally with critically acclaimed films like “Emilia Perez” and “The Substance,” which are expected to excel in U.S. awards season.

France’s films saw the highest demand in Germany, selling approximately 4.1 million tickets, making it their leading market. Russia, Mexico, Belgium, Luxembourg, and Poland followed closely behind. In comparison, North America ranked as the ninth most significant market for French movies with about 1.5 million tickets sold.

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2025-01-13 19:16