08/09/2002 - 2001 was a record year for French films abroad and Unifrance's Toscan du Plantier predicts an even better 2002

French cinema continues to enjoy a huge success abroad. In 2001, 37.4 million tickets were sold outside of France, twice as many as the 16.6 million of 2000, and Daniel Toscan du Plantier, the president of Unifrance (the French film industry’s promotions agency) said there is every indication that 2002 will be even better. Data for the first 7 months of this year show that international ticket sales are soaring and stand at 26.4 million. “Soon French films will earn more money abroad than they do at home” said Toscan.
Last year, French films took Euros 207 million abroad; the main reason being more good quality productions on offer. « It follows that the more prints and screens you have, the bigger the audience you attract » continued Toscan who pointed out that French films are attracting an ever-younger audience while maintaining their traditional hardcore of long standing fans.
While Amélie was the driving film of the year - seen in 2001 by 9.7 million people outside of France, with a gross international box office of Euros 21 million in June 2002 - the following French productions also managed to do good business: Crimson Rivers (4.4 million tickets), The Brotherhood of Wolves (3.8 million), the Luc Besson-produced Taxi 2 and Michael Haneke’s The Pianist starring Isabelle Huppert.
64 percent of all tickets to a French film are sold in Europe (the 2001 total box office stands at Euros 28.3 million), with Italy as the single biggest consumer in terms of attendance. Films that were either produced or co-produced (majority share) in France set a new ten-year attendance record in 2001 with a total of 62.4 million tickets sold worldwide, and a Euros 300 million box office.

(Translated from French)