With 19 million admissions in April, cinema attendance in France is back to pre-pandemic levels. Attendance is actually 2.7% above the 2017-2019 average. Even more encouragingly, this uptick came despite the fact that there were only 59 films released in France this April, compared to 65 a year ago. This means that more people are going to see each film.

Attendance in April 2023 was up 38% over the same month last year. The strong figures were driven by the exceptional performance of “Super Mario Bros Movie” that is now approaching five million admissions in France. It was followed by local hit “The Three Musketeers: D’Artagnan” that attracted 2.7 million admissions in just four weeks of release. In third place “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Amongst Thieves”. US films dominated, capturing a 42% market share, compared to 27% in April 2022.

[A]s Marc-Olivier Sebbag, General Delegate of the Federation of French Cinemas on BFM Business this Thursday, points out, “since January 1, we have progressed each month. We ended the year 2022 with -26% compared to the years before the crisis, on May 1, 2023, we are at -13%, that is to say that we have halved the gap that separated us from the years before the crisis, it is very positive” he says on the set of Good Evening Business.

BFM Business

The hope is for a month-by-month narrowing, with summer blockbusters franchises such as “Indiana Jones,” “Mission: Impossible,” “Dune” and other films accelerating this trend. The upcoming Cannes Film Festival should also provide a bounty of arthouse and local hits to boost the French box office. “There is a ripple effect which is very appreciable and… we are very optimistic,” explains Marc-Olivier Sebbag.