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BOX OFFICE France

Admissions decrease, but stay on course

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- For the sixth month in a row, the French went to the cinema less often than in 2011, even though total admissions remain enviable.

The National Film and Moving Image Centre  (CNC)’s latest published estimates show an underlying trend of decline in admissions, doubled by the negative boomerang effect of The Intouchables’ French box office success at the end of 2011. The month of November indeed recorded 22.78 million admissions, which is 14% less than for the same period last year. Beyond this monthly comparison being logically quite unfavourable in view of The Intouchables’ exceptional success, one must note that it also reflects an underlying trend as it’s the sixth month in a row of decline in French cinema attendance. 

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The grand total for the first 11 months of this year is however good with 183.7 million admissions, which is only a 4% drop compared to January-November 2011. The milestone of 200 million admissions in a year should still be reachable for 2012, which would be for the fourth year in a row. Finally, as for market shares, French cinema remains more than strong with 41.6% of 2012 admissions, compared to 49% for American productions and 9.4% for features of other nationalities.

At the box office, Sam Mendes’ English co-production Skyfall [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
film profile
]
has recorded over 6.5 million admissions in over six weeks, while Laurent Tirard’s Asterix and Obelix: God Save Britannia [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
reached 3.7 million admissions in seven weeks. Results are also worth mentioning for the following films: François Ozon’s In the House [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(1.1 million admissions in eight weeks), Michel Ocelot’s Kirikou and the Men and Women [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
(1 million spectators in nine weeks), Austrian director Michael Haneke’s Love [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Michael Haneke
film profile
]
(over 600,000 admissions in six weeks), Spanish director Juan Antonio Bayona’s The Impossible [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Juan Antonio Bayona
film profile
]
(376,000 in two weeks), Danish director Nikolaj Arcel’s A Royal Affair [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Mikkel Boe Følsgaard
interview: Nikolaj Arcel
film profile
]
(125,000 in two weeks), and his fellow countryman Thomas Vinterberg’s The Hunt [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Thomas Vinterberg
interview: Thomas Vinterberg
film profile
]
(111,000 in three weeks). Finally, Régis Roinsard’s Populaire [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
film profile
]
(photo) has made a good start with 600,000 admissions in 12 days.

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(Translated from French)

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