Impressive 57.8% rise in July

20/08/2007

Aided by the release of a string of blockbusters, July has been an excellent month for admissions in French cinemas, with a 57.8% rise in admissions (16.05m) compared to July 2006 according to statistics published by the Centre National de la Cinématographie (CNC).

A running total of 110.37m viewers during the first seven months of 2007 – although down slightly ( 2.5%) from the same period in 2006 – helped to boost admission figures. However, the rise – already noticeable in June and which seems to be continuing in August – has especially benefited US productions, whose market share has been estimated at 47.9% since the beginning of the year, compared to 45.1% from January 1 to July 31, 2006, while figures for French films were down from 44.5% to 39%.

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Also noteworthy is the increase in market share for UK films, boosted by the release of hit titles Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (5.5m admissions in five weeks) and Edgar Wright’s Hot Fuzz [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (161,000).

The most popular release this summer has been Marjane Satrapi and Vincent Paronnaud’s animated title Persepolis [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Marc-Antoine Robert
interview: Marjane Satrapi, Vincent Pa…
film profile] (see Focus), which garnered 967,000 admissions in seven weeks thanks to good word-of-mouth (12% fall only in its seventh week and a further 238 copies released by Diaphana Distribution).

Films to enjoy lengthy theatrical careers also include Jean Becker’s Conversation With My Gardener [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news), which has attracted 1.2m viewers in ten weeks. Julie Delpy’s 2 Days in Paris [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Christophe Mazodier
interview: Julie Delpy
film profile] (see Focus) has also performed well, with 192,000 filmgoers in five weeks (dist. Rezo Films) as has Anne Fassio’s Je déteste les enfants des autres [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (297,000 admissions in six weeks, dist. SND). Claude Chabrol’s A Girl Cut in Two [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (see news) has also got off to a good start, attracting close to 250,000 filmgoers in its first five days on 292 screens (Wild Bunch Distribution).