08/06/2010

There has been a fifth consecutive month of rising audience figures in French theatres, which attracted 93.45m viewers between January 1-May 31, 2010, i.e. 10.7% more than the same period in 2009, according to estimates published by the National Film and Moving Image Centre (CNC).

The month of May, which saw a total of 16.33m admissions (+9.4% compared to 2009) brought audience figures to a record level (210m over the past 12 months) which will, however, be difficult to maintain due to competition from the Football World Cup. Distributors have already anticipated this situation by markedly reducing the number of weekly releases.

As for market shares, French productions garnered 38.3% of admissions recorded during the first five months of 2010, compared to 49.3% for US features and 12.4% for films from other countries.

At the box office, May saw some impressive performances by French films. Gustave Kervern and Benoît Delépine’s Mammuth [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gustave Kervern, Benoî…
film profile] has amassed around 770,000 admissions in almost seven weeks (distributed by Ad Vitam), while Anne Le Ny’s My Father’s Guests [+see also:
trailer
film profile] clocks in at 810,000 viewers in nine weeks (UGC Distribution).

Pascal Chaumeil’s phenomenal hit Heartbreaker [+see also:
trailer
making of
film profile] ends its run with 3.6m admissions in 11 weeks (Universal Pictures France), almost at the same level as Fabien Onteniente’s comedy Camping 2 [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (3.8m admissions in its seventh week – Pathé Distribution) and well ahead of Luc Besson’s The Extraordinary Adventures of Adèle Blanc-Sec [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (1.6m admissions in almost eight weeks – EuropaCorp Distribution).

Meanwhile, Dominique Farrugia and Arnaud Lemort’s The Perfect Date [+see also:
trailer
film profile] has drawn 992,000 viewers in almost five weeks (StudioCanal), and Jean Becker’s La Tête en Friche [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (“Uncultivated Head”) has got off to a good start with 267,000 admissions in five days (StudioCanal).

Finally, Abbas Kiarostami’s French/Italian co-production Certified Copy [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] has attracted 182,000 viewers in 19 days (MK2 Diffusion); and Oscar-winning Spanish co-production The Secret In Their Eyes [+see also:
trailer
making of
Interview Juan José Campanella [IT]
Interview Ricardo Darín [IT]
Interview Soledad Villemin [IT]
film profile] has amassed 235,000 admissions in four weeks (Pretty Pictures).

(Translated from French)