08/07/2015 - More films are on the menu in French theatres in July and August than there have been in previous years

Over the last few years, the summer months had been marked by a distinct fall in the number of movies distributed in French theatres, and one of the arguments put forward in order to explain this decrease was that arthouse cinema was not very successful at drawing in viewers during this period. And yet a reversal of this trend seems to be starting to occur, with distributors undoubtedly having drawn the appropriate conclusions from the increasing number of new releases to absorb over the entire year, the massacre caused by the enormous releases logjams during the periods that are judged to be the most favourable, and the summertime success experienced by certain titles, such as the Cannes Palme d'Or winner Winter Sleep [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Nuri Bilge Ceylan
film profile], which was brought out in early August last year.

While the comedy Serial Teachers 2 [+see also:
trailer
film profile] has got off to a flying start at the box office, taking 914,863 admissions over its first five days (distributed by UGC in 795 theatres) and boasting the best opening weekend of the year for a French-language film, StudioCanal is releasing the highly accomplished Microbe et Gasoil [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Michel Gondry (read the review) today in almost 150 cinemas.

Also hitting screens is the astonishing Eisenstein in Guanajuato [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Peter Greenaway
film profile] by British director Peter Greenaway (revealed in competition at Berlin – read the review and watch the interview – Pyramide Distribution across 60 screens) and the fascinating documentary Amy [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by British filmmaker Asif Kapafia, unveiled out of competition at the Cannes Festival (Mars Distribution in 21 theatres). Also of note, and demonstrating the sheer variety of this week’s releases, are the US animated blockbuster Minions (co-directed by France’s Pierre Coffin, and which benefited from the globally renowned artistic and technical expertise of the Paris-based Illumination Mac Guff team), Difret by Ethiopian director Zeresenay Mehari (winner of the Audience Award at Sundance and in the Panorama section at the Berlinale), Self Made [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] by Israeli filmmaker Shira Geffen and the documentary Dior et moi [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Frédéric Tcheng (selected last year at Tribeca – distributed by Dissidenz Films).

Also standing out at the box office is Mustang [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Deniz Gamze Ergüven
film profile] by Turkish director Deniz Gamze Ergüven, which has exceeded 200,000 admissions in 19 days, and for which attendance levels continue to rise from one week to the next, as does its print run (185 copies in its third week via Ad Vitam Distribution). Lastly, we should point out the 449,000 viewers who have seen One Wild Moment [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Jean-François Richet (Mars Distribution) in 12 days and the great start for Tale of Tales [+see also:
film review
trailer
Q&A: Matteo Garrone
film profile] by Italy’s Matteo Garrone (distributed by Le Pacte), which has racked up 54,000 admissions in five days.

(Translated from French)