09/03/2015 - 39.59 million admissions were recorded in January and February, a total that is up by 12.3% compared to 2014 and constitutes the best start to a year since 1980

Those who had already been prophesising the death of theatrical film screenings would do well to revise their predictions, at least going on the evidence of the attendance-level statistics for France. Indeed, following a high-flying 2014 (which saw 208.43 million viewers and the second highest total for 47 years), this highly positive trend was borne out in January and February 2015. 

According to the CNC’s estimates, the first two months of the year recorded 39.59 million admissions – ie, 12.3% higher than for the same period last year, thanks in particular to very strong audience enthusiasm in February (22.56 million viewers, or +28.5%).

Interestingly, this has been the best start to a year since the CNC’s monthly monitoring was established in 1980, with the 39.5 million recorded in 2010 and the 39.4 million seen in 2002. 

In terms of market share, French films represent 48.3% of the admissions taken during the first two months of 2015, as against 39.4% for US productions and 12.4% for features hailing from other countries.

These very solid box-office results owe a great deal to French productions such as La famille Bélier [+see also:
trailer
making of
film profile] by Eric Lartigau, which has just smashed through the seven-million-viewer mark (in almost 12 weeks in theatres), Taken 3 (2.5 million in six weeks), Papa ou maman [+see also:
trailer
making of
film profile] (2.2 million over four weeks), Memories [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (one million in seven weeks) and Timbuktu [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (942,000 viewers in 12 weeks). Also of note is the flying start that the Chinese-French co-production Wolf Totem [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (483,000 viewers in its first week) has got off to; the film has also been a box-office smash in China (grossing $100 million and racking up 16 million admissions), resonating with the global success seen by Paddington [+see also:
trailer
making of
film profile], funded by StudioCanal, which has grossed a worldwide total of $240 million. It therefore constitutes the biggest international success for a family film not produced by a US studio.

(Translated from French)