13/03/2008

A total of 35.67 million admissions have been recorded in French theatres for January and February 2008, revealing that audience figures are picking up after a mixed 2007 season with 178.14m admissions (- 5.6% compared to 2006).

According to the statistics published by the National Centre for Cinematography (CNC), the first two months of 2008 have seen the number of admissions rise by 2.1% compared to the start of last year.

After a decline of 2% in January, February really took off with 20.7m admissions, i.e. an increase of 5.3% that is expected to shoot up even further in March thanks to the phenomenal success of Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news).

In terms of market share, French films dominate with 51.4% of admissions in 2008, compared to 40.2% for US productions. There has also been an upturn for foreign films, reaching a market share of almost 8.5% (increase of 1.7 points).

As well as by domestic box-office blockbusters Asterix at the Olympic Games [+see also:
trailer
film profile] and Cédric Klapisch’s Paris [+see also:
trailer
film profile], the start of 2008 has been marked in French theatres by the performances of Luc Jacquet’s The Fox and the Child [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2.3m admissions), Isabelle Mergault’s comedy A Widow at Last [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (2.1m viewers) and Abdellatif Kechiche’s The Secret of the Grain [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Hafsia Herzi
film profile] (768,000 admissions and a re-release since its triumph at the Cesars).

Other titles of note include Vera Belmont’s Surviving with Wolves [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (610,000 viewers), Jacques Maillot’s Rivals [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (492,000 admissions) and Valeria Bruni Tedeschi’s Actresses [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (almost 400,000 admissions).

Successful titles from other European countries include animated films The Three Robbers by German director Hayo Freitag (375,000 viewers) and Max and Co [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Swiss duo Samuel and Frédéric Guillaume (100,000 admissions), while more adult viewers also enjoyed Four Minutes [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by German director Chris Kraus (140,000 admissions), the co-production The Band’s Visit [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (425,000 viewers) and It's a Free World! [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by UK filmmaker Ken Loach (455,000 viewers).

(Translated from French)