13/03/2003

Disappointing news for French film exhibitors after a fairly positive 2002. The 13 per cent increase in attendance that was reported in January 2003 did not follow through into February, when attendance actually fell by 18.1 per cent with 19 million tickets sold, bringing the to-date total attendance 2003 to 33.2 million. The data was just published by the National Film Centre (CNC). It is hoped that March will bring a welcome turnaround mainly because of the school holidays.
On the plus side, French films appear to be holding their own in the face of competition from Hollywood. Thanks to titles like Taxi 3 (6 million tickets sold in 6 weeks), La Beuze (a comedy seen by 1.4 million people in 5 weeks) and 18 Ans Après by Coline Serreau, French films have a 43 per cent of the domestic market compared to the Americans’ 42.5 per cent. However, neither of the two French titles selected for this year’s Berlinale, Monsieur N. by Antoine de Caunes and Pascal Bonitzer’s Petites Coupures managed to break the 200,000-ticket barrier.

(Translated from French)