07/11/2006

While French sales companies are busy selling at the American Film Market in Los Angeles, which ends tomorrow, the Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC) has just published its annual sales study carried out in collaboration with Unifrance, ADEF (Association of French Exporters) and IFCIC (Film and Cultural Industries Support Institute).

In 2005, 19 French world sales companies recorded total revenue of €239.5m: €153.1m for French films (up 8.4% from 2004 and up 24% from 2003) and €86.4m for foreign films (a 5.2% increase from 2004). Minimum guarantees made up the bulk of revenue, especially from sales made in 2003, 2004 and early 2005, taking into account the time gap between the signing of contracts and their payment.

With regard to trends, the study draws attention to the fall in prices of French films, more stringent selection criteria in the purchasing of films, a fall in the volume of presales (resulting in an increase for completed films) and perceptible competition among domestic films on a growing number of markets.

Moreover, three companies account for 62% of revenue on the sales of French films (50% in 2004), with five of them reporting a turnover of over €10m, while six outfits made less than one million euro. Sales of foreign films, meanwhile, are monopolised by two outfits that account for 82% of revenue (the leader with 66.7% of sales).

Italy has established itself as the leading territory for the purchase of French films, accounting for €23.1m in revenue (15.1%), an increase of 31% influenced by a marked rise in prices (€300,000 for a recent film). It is followed by Japan and Germany (9% of sales, down 38%).

With 51.3% of sales, Western Europe remains the main export market of French films with Spain (6.7%), Belgium (4.5%, an increase of 38%), the UK and Ireland (2.8%, down 35%, a fragile market with few films), Scandinavia (stable at 2.5%), Switzerland (1.8%), Benelux (1.8%) and Greece (1.7%). North America is becoming the second leading market with 18.8% (but 91% of sales for one film), ahead of Asia (14.8%, almost 80% of which from Japan, a key market with high prices) and Eastern Europe (8% of the total including more than 50% in CIS countries, 11.3% in Hungary and 10.5% in Poland).

(Translated from French)