Is the bottle half empty or half full? More than three weeks after the reopening of cinemas in France on 22 June following more than three months of closure for health reasons, provisional results are relatively contrasted. The nine last days of June recorded 998,203 admissions and the first two weeks of July peak at 1.78 million, which represents a total of 2.77 million admissions (for an estimated revenue of €18.8 million): viewers therefore did return to French cinemas despite the psychological weight linked to a health crisis muted but still present in France.

Attendance numbers are nevertheless far from the usual standards, which revolve around 3 million admissions per week on average at this time of year. On the one hand, worries are far from gone (and the obligation to wear a mask in screening rooms starting next week should not improve things in that regard). On the other hand, potential viewers no doubt more than ever are looking to spend time outdoors after having spent two months in nationwide confinement. To top it all off, SVoD and VoD habits taken during the forced period of reclusion might be difficult to shake off. But the impact of a limited film offer also plays a very important role, with a total absence of American blockbusters and a relatively reduced number of big French titles, as some French distributors have decided to stand in solidarity with exhibitors (and/or have opted for strategic programming to profit from a much larger visibility in a context with little competition, or out of necessity to unclog their lineups) while others have not (some of them claiming that reopening isn’t rentable at all).

Nationale production of course benefits the most from this reduced playing field, especially with the very good first week of Tout simplement noir [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Jean-Pascal Zadi and John Wax (255,000 admissions – distribution by Gaumont), the 568,000 admissions accumulated by How to be a Good Wife [+lee también:
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entrevista: Anamaria Vartolomei
ficha de la película] by Martin Provost (released just before confinement and re-released as soon as cinemas reopened by Memento Films Distribution), the excellent beginning of Summer of 85 [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by François Ozon (nearly 50,000 admissions in two days – Diaphana Distribution), the 181,000 admissions recorded in two weeks for Perfumes [+lee también:
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entrevista: Grégory Magne
ficha de la película] by Grégory Magne (Pyramide Distribution), an average of 825,000 admissions for Gabriel Le Bomin’s De Gaulle [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] which was re-released by SND after ten days in cinemas in early March) and the hopes placed in the comedy Divorce Club [+lee también:
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ficha de la película] by Michaël Youn (68,790 admissions accumulated at the end of its first day in cinemas, including 24,000 in previews, distributed by SND). Worth noting on the side of non-national European cinema is the good performance from Mr. Jones [+lee también:
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entrevista: Agnieszka Holland
ficha de la película] by Polish director Agnieszka Holland which is pointing to 174,000 admissions since 22 June (Condor Distribution).