The French box office bounced back in May after an April plunge to reach 15.6 million admissions, up 13.5% from the same month last year.
Ticket sales year on year from January through May are down by 11.6% compared to the same period in 2023 after a slow start to the year and admissions to French cinemas falling by 35.5% in what was an abysmal April.
However, the June-May total of 171 million admissions is equal to the same period year on year. More was merrier for a month when 74 new films were released compared to 63 in 2023.
The renewed May momentum was mostly due to local-language phenomenon A Little Something Extra, the top film of 2024 to date, with 5.5 million tickets sold for distributor Pan Distribution to date since its May 1 release. This is approximately €40.2m, based on an average ticket price of €7.2. The comedy drama about a father-son duo fleeing the police who take refuge at a summer camp for young adults with disabilities from well-known French actor and comedian Artus is already the top local title since the pandemic and is poised to become the first French film in a decade to sell more than 6.7 million tickets.
The previous record-holder for post-pandemic ticket sales was Guillaume Canet’s Asterix And Obelisk: The Middle Kingdom that totalled 4.6 million tickets (approx €33.1m) in its full 13-week run.
Behind A Little Something Extra’s May total of 4.9 million admissions (€35.3m), Disney’s Kingdom Of The Planet Of The Apes swung to second place with 1.8 million tickets sold (approx €13m), followed by Paramount’s IF with 850,000 (approx. €6.1m), Studiocanal’s Back To Black with 650,500 (approx €4.7m) and Universal’s The Fall Guy with 591,000 (approx. €4.3m).
Other local titles drawing audiences include Zinc’s Brothers, starring Mathieu Kassovitz and Yvan Attal with 386,400 admissions (approx €2.8m) and Diaphana’s The Second Act by Quentin Dupieux, that has performed well following its Cannes opening night slot with 338,500 admissions (approx €2.4m) since its May 15 release, the best for a Dupieux-directed title in France to date.
Warner Bros’ Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga disappointed with just 358,800 tickets sold in its opening week for a box office gross of approximately €2.6m.
Hopes are now high the May momentum can continue with the anticipated June releases of Pathé’s The Count of Monte-Cristo, Sony’s Bad Boys: Ride Or Die, Disney’s Inside Out 2, and Universal’s The Bikeriders.
All figures provided by Comscore.
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