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BOX OFFICE France

160.97 million admissions in ten months

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- For the fifth month in a row admissions continue to be lower than in 2011, but this has not (yet) threatened a very high level of attendance in French cinemas

A lack of strong titles, misguided staggering of releases throughout the year, drawn-out consequences of general economic stagnation, or increased consumption of films via VoD? Whatever the many causes that may be difficult to understand without hindsight, the observation remains the same: Admissions to French cinemas in 2012 have continued to drop for the fifth month in a row compared to last year. According to estimations published by the National Film and Moving Image Centre (CNC), the month of October recorded 17.59 million admissions, i.e. 7.3 % less than for the same period in 2011.

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The annual total however remains very enviable at European market level with 160.97 million admissions (an estimated €1.01m in receipts) in ten months, only a 2.4 % drop compared to results for January-October 2011. The fall in admissions this October compared to the same month last year is also relative, as October 2011 registered record results thanks to the release of box office hit The Intouchables, whose results should continue to affect the 2011 - 2012 comparison until the end of the year. However, this should not stop admissions (that have clearly been on the rise since the beginning of November thanks to the half term holidays) from reaching the -- still exceptional -- 200 million bar by the end of the year.

In good news, the market share for French films is estimated to have been 42.3 % for the first ten months of 2012, compared to 47.4 % for American productions and 9.8 % for titles from other countries.

At the box office, Sam Mendes’ British-American co-production Skyfall [+see also:
film review
trailer
making of
film profile
]
(photo) is currently setting off sparks with 5 million admissions in nine days. Laurent Tirard’s Asterix and Obelix: God Save Britannia [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, a film that seems to have regained momentum after a worse-than-expected start, has now sold 3.46 million tickets in 26 days. As for Pascal Chaumeil’s Un plan parfait [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
, it has attracted 871,000 cinema-goers in 12 days.

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(Translated from French)

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