Excellent start to year in theatres

09/03/2010

There has been a second consecutive month of rising audience figures in French theatres, which attracted 39.86m viewers in January and February 2010, i.e. 16.1% more than the same period in 2009, according to estimates published by the National Film and Moving Image Centre (CNC). This score represents the best start to the year for the past three decades.

After 18.95m admissions in January (+23.7%), February saw audience figures of 20.915m (+10% compared to February 2009). However, the good health of theatres has mainly benefited US productions, which accounted for 60.3% of admissions in January-February in the wake of giant Avatar [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (14.13m viewers so far). French films lost ground with a 26.2% market share, while features from other countries clocked in at 13.5%.

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Nevertheless, Jacques Perrin and Jacques Cluzaud’s Oceans [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (Pathé Distribution) has garnered 2.56m admissions in almost six weeks. Other films doing well are Joann Sfar’s Je T’aime, Moi Non Plus [+see also:
trailer
Interview with Joann Sfar, director of…
interview: Kacey Mottet Klein
film profile] (1.1m in seven weeks - distributed by Universal); Pascal Bourdiaux’s comedy Le Mac [+see also:
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film profile] (1.15m in 19 days - distributed by ARP Sélection); and Dominique Monféry’s animated film ">Eleanor’s Secret [+see also:
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film profile] (428,000 viewers in 11 weeks - distributed by Haut et Court).

Finally, UK director Guy Ritchie’s US/German co-production Sherlock Holmes has amassed 2m admissions in five weeks (distribution: Warner) and Jorge Blanco and Javier Abad’s Spanish/UK/US co-production Planet 51 [+see also:
trailer
film profile] has drawn almost 850,000 viewers in four weeks.