08/07/2010

According to the Observatory at the FICAM (Federation of Film, Audiovisual and Multimedia Industries), the number of features produced in France in the first semester of 2010 stands at 93, up 13% compared to the first six months of 2009. They include 79 narrative films, seven documentaries and seven animated works.

As for investment in production, the trend is still downward with €505m (-3% compared to the first semester of 2009), but this decline is much less steep than last year (-17% between the first semester of 2009 and the same period in 2008). There has also been a decrease in the number of projects with budgets of over €7m, while the number of features with estimated budgets of between €2-5m has sharply increased (+56% in the first semester of 2010).

The level of delocalisation of films costing over €10m is 26% in the first semester of 2010, with for example Jérôme Salles’s Largo Winch 2 and Claude Miller’s Voyez Comme Ils Dansent (“Watch How They Dance”).

Finally, a significant phenomenon has been recorded: for the first time, 35mm film stock is no longer the most popular medium for features, representing only 46% of the films produced in the first semester, compared to 70% in the first six months of 2009. The impact of economic factors on this change is indisputable, for 76% of works with a budget of over €4m are still shot in 35mm while, for example, 65% of features filmed in HD have budgets of under €4m.

(Translated from French)