International box office for French films – October 2021

Titanium is the most viewed movie of October 2021, and 2 more, My Son and Around the world in 80 days, also bring together more than 100,000 moviegoers outside France.

The increase in the number of new films released in theaters and fears of the consequences of a new wave of the pandemic characterize the month of October. Film buffs can take advantage of a constantly expanding offer that allows attendance to continue to grow week after week. The market situation is far from being uniform across the five continents, on the contrary it varies greatly from one zone to another. The last lockdowns and curfews have been lifted in Australia and Japan; the Italian theaters, those of Rio de Janeiro, Madrid and Catalonia regain full capacity; cinemas in Mumbai and Phnom Penh may reopen after months of shutdown. On the other hand, the resurgence of the health crisis, especially in Europe and the Americas, is pushing many governments to make access to the cinema subject to the presentation of the health pass (among others, in Belgium, Ecuador, Estonia , in Ireland, and in Los Angeles and New York), or even to lower the size of theaters (as in Chile, Ecuador and Romania). Others go further and close cinemas for 2 (Russia) or 3 (Latvia) weeks or a month. These measures will be taken up and implemented in many other markets in early November.

French cinema is strengthening its international presence and in October signs its third richest month in admissions (1.73 million) of 2021, behind September (1.82) and June (2.14). The threshold of one million spectators is easily crossed for the fifth time; admissions fell slightly (-5%), while the number of titles exploited increased (+20) compared to September 2021. Among the 10 most popular majority productions, the vast majority have recently been released in France and come to renew the tricolor offer outside France. As in September, the majority French productions are ahead of the minorities, major protagonists of the first half of 2021: their share increases further to reach 77%, their highest level for the current year. On the other hand, French-language productions saw their share resized to 2 out of 3 admissions of the monthly total (3 out of 4 the previous month), a decline which can be explained by the arrival of My Son and Wolf and lion.

The trifecta is made up of films that each brought together more than 100,000 moviegoers, for the second time this year after August! The predominantly French productions continue to gradually find their audience: 23 bring together more than 10,000 spectators in October, 6 more than in September and 4.5 times more than in June. The analysis of additional levels shows hope. This month, the symbolic threshold of 100,000 admissions is crossed by 3 films (2 in September, 3 in August), that of 50,000 by 6 (4 in September, 1 in August) and that of 20,000 by 14 ( 12 in September, 8 in August). More and more films are being released in several territories and are bringing together more cinephiles.

The gender distribution is being renewed. The drama is once again the leading genre and is the source of almost 1 in 3 French cinema admissions abroad in October. For the first time this year, all other genres (except documentary and war / history) are neck and neck and each have a share of over 10%. Fantasy / horror / science fiction wins 2^e place and comedy / dramatic comedy retains the bottom step of the podium.

Around the world in 80 days continues his rich international career but goes down 2 positions compared to September and closes the podium, while retaining the title of biggest majority success of 2021, the only one to have gathered more than half a million foreign spectators to date. The new king of the ranking is Titanium. The latest Palme d’Or, which will represent France in the race for the Oscar for best international film, is distributed in 15 markets and stands out particularly in the United States where, launched in more than 560 theaters, it counts 1, 44 M $ of soundtrack and more than 150,000 spectators. The film brings together as many French people as foreigners. 122,000 Russians do not miss the appointment with My Son, whose career is impacted by the strict measures that came into force in the country a week after his release. The same fate is reserved for Eiffel, whose counter stops at 32,000 tickets, but which is making a strong comeback in Australia where several cinemas can reopen. At the end of October, it was showing in 63 theaters (27 when it started) and generated more revenue than in mid-September. Benedetta marks its best first week in Spain (32,000 admissions in total), but the market which currently offers it the most spectators is Dutch (almost 38,000 in total). Another production that begins its international tour is The wolf and the lion, signed by Gilles de Maistre, director of one of the great recent successes of French cinema internationally, Mia and the white lion (4.52 million admissions in 2019). As the box on the left proves, French cinema has won a place in the local top 10 on several occasions and in different markets.

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This analysis is drawn up on the basis of the results recorded on November 10, 2021. As the figures are constantly consolidated, the graph created automatically by the site will differ from the table in this news.