Organised by the CNC (courtesy of Director of Studies, Statistics and Strategy Cécile Lacoue), Unifrance (via Director of Film Gilles Renouard) and the French Association of Film Exporters (represented by Gaumont’s Head of International Film Sales Anne-Sophie Martel), a press conference primarily revolving around a study based on the results of 38 French international sales agencies has unveiled the overarching trends in French film exportation in 2023.

One of the main findings when it comes to sales is the growing importance of selections and awards in festivals, the notoriety of the talent involved, and the media coverage the movies enjoy, given the increased nervousness of buyers who are pre-purchasing less and less often and who are often preferring to wait for finished films. According to Anne-Sophie Martel, "the film has to tick various boxes in terms of cast, filmmaker, theme, festival selection, having an award, etc., in order to facilitate communications. Spur of the moment acquisitions do still happen, but in a far more thought-through fashion. And SVOD platforms are buying less."

Overall revenue of €127m was earned by French international sales agents in 2023, in other words 6% more than in the previous year: €98m for recent French films (up 9.3% on 2022 and €19m more than in 2019) and €29m for French catalogue films. It’s worth noting that 93.4% of overall revenue can be attributed to fiction and, within this genre, predominantly to catalogue films (accounting for 82.3 % of fiction films sold and 22.3% of earnings from this genre). Animation remains incredibly dynamic at its very own level (accounting for 2.5% of films sold and 5.8% of turnover) while film documentaries stand out for their low takings (with the exception of a handful of festival award-winners like On the Adamant [+lee también:
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This recovery in international sales of French films - corresponding with the improved health of cinemas, which has steadily regained some of its colour in the post-pandemic world - is marked by a 10% increase in combined rights sales (covering various kinds of exploitation), which account for three quarters of revenue earned in 2023 and which often now include all de-linearised rights. That said, sales of de-linearised rights alone have fallen dramatically to 5.9% of total revenue. But this is a contrasting trend because whilst VOD rights have multiplied nine-fold and AVOD rights five-fold (for anecdotal amounts), SVOD (subscription video on-demand) rights have decreased by 12.4 % on 2022 and combined de-linearised rights have fallen by 67.0%. Last but not least, despite the positive momentum highlighted by exporters, revenue linked to adaptation rights fell to €0.9m in 2023 versus €3m in 2022.

In terms of the regions involved in French film exportation, Western Europe accounted for 47.7% of revenue from French film sales around the world in 2023, which totalled €60.6m and signals a rise of 19.8%, at a level exceeding the 2017-2019 average. Germany has enjoyed a sharp rebound in this particular region (€19.1m, up 91% over the year), while Italy has dropped off (€7.9m, down 11% over the year) and Spain is stable (€7.0m, up 3% over the year).

Central and Eastern Europe have dropped to second place in terms of global exportation zones, with a sharp increase in revenue over the year (up 57% to €21.9m) and dynamic buying tendencies across the entire region (notably in Poland and Hungary), helped not least by the "Russian bubble" (with cultural productions being exempt from the current embargo).

North America remains the 3rd biggest market for French film exportation, but there’s a clear slow-down in sales in this territory, where the market share (10.9%) is at its lowest ever level with €13.9m in sales takings in 2023 (44.5% less than in 2022). Rationalisation of investments by streamers and a fairly slow revival of cinema attendance in the USA (where many movie theatres have closed their doors) explain the exportation difficulties French films are currently facing in a region where the prices of arthouse films have dropped significantly.

Asia is showing signs of recovery, accounting for €11.1m of revenue (a 14.5% improvement over the year), but the market is still fragile and has shrunk by 25% compared to the pre-pandemic period. The most significant rebound comes from South Korea (up 75 % over the year) while progress is far more measured in Japan (up 8.8%) and in China (up 7.8%) who are prioritising local film productions. The emergence of new territories which are favourable to the exportation of French films, such as Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines, is equally interesting.

Last but not least, there’s no ignoring the persistent difficulties experienced in Latin America (accounting for €6.8m of revenue) and the revival of French film acquisition in the Middle East (€2.4m of revenue) while, respectively, Oceania and Africa accounted for €2m and €400,000 of revenue from French film sales in 2023.

These figures should be considered alongside the 42.7m admissions (that is, earnings of €271.4m) recorded for French films in international cinemas in 2023, according to data honed by Unifrance (read our news).