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BOX OFFICE Francia

96,17 milioni di entrate nelle sale francesi nel 2021

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- Lottando contro i venti contrari, la presenza al cinema in Francia ha mostrato la migliore resilienza dei principali mercati europei

96,17 milioni di entrate nelle sale francesi nel 2021
Kaamelott - Premier volet di Alexandre Astier, al quarto posto del box-office 2021 in Francia

Questo articolo è disponibile in inglese.

The glass could be seen as half-empty or half-full, depending on how you look at the analysis, but despite dealing out some heavy blows, the pandemic hasn’t totally annihilated French cinemas, which closed 2021 having recorded 96.17 million admissions, according to the estimations of the CNC. Although it’s a figure up 47.4% on the dark year that was 2020, these attendance levels actually reveal a 55% decrease on 2019. However, if we only take into account the period in which French cinemas were open, from the beginning of June to the end of December, this drop falls to 23.2% compared to 2019, while December (boosted by Spider-Man: No Way Home) recorded viewer numbers markedly close to the usual monthly figures. They’re results which make of France the most resilient European country in the big-screen market.

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That said, the situation is clearly anything but straightforward, over and above the twists and turns of the healthcare predicament (the surge of the Omicron variant we’ve been seeing over the New Year will inevitably impact attendance rates, which have more or less stabilised, but, unlike the previous episodes we’ve seen, cinemas are staying open this time round). Distributors have been forced to "destock at all costs", releasing films which were previously blocked during the long periods of cinema closures, a backlog worsened by the arrival of new productions (owing to the fact that French film sets got back up and running quickly in 2020, which we’re thankful for). Not only has this rush of new films placed a great number of titles targeting the same audience in direct competition with one another (especially in terms of arthouse cinema, notably movies approved by major festivals and first feature films), but the demographics of returning audiences have further amplified the problem because, unlike young people who haven’t shown any reticence in finding their way back to the big screen, the over-40s, who account for the lion’s share of aficionados of arthouse film, have shown themselves to be far less enthusiastic to return (either due to worries over Covid, the new habit of staying at home and the associated growing addiction to SVOD platforms, or the choice of other going-out options – restaurants, outdoor eating and drinking spaces, etc.).

The result of this is an increase in the “winner takes all" phenomenon across a market which is battling it out for a reduced pool of viewers. A guesstimate circulating among professionals is that "blockbuster films" have underperformed by 20-30% compared to the usual market result, "mid-sized films" by 50% and small ones by 70%. But given that arthouse works mainly reside within the latter two categories, their distributors (who are, generally speaking, independent) are paying a very heavy price at present, given that they must pay the Minimum Guarantees which were promised to producers on the basis of admissions forecasts made before the health crisis and whose actual results fall far below expectations. It’s a heavy loss which is clearly having an impact on their financial wellbeing and their ability to invest in new projects. So, whilst cinemas have held up relatively well in France throughout the successive waves of the health storm, many of the vessels flanking the main ship are having to improvise and their crews are plugging gaps and baling out in the hope of better days.

In terms of market shares, French films accounted for 40.8 % of cinema admissions in 2021, as opposed to the 42.4 % enjoyed by American productions and 16.8 % by feature films from other countries.

American productions dominated France’s 2021 box-office podium, thanks to Spider-Man: No Way Home (5.6 million admissions), No Time to Die [+leggi anche:
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(4 million) and Dune [+leggi anche:
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(3.1 million), while three French feature films stand out in the year’s Top 10: Kaamelott – First Instalment [+leggi anche:
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by Alexandre Astier (4th place -  2.64 million admissions), The Stronghold [+leggi anche:
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by Cédric Jimenez (6th – 2.2 million) and Les Tuche 4 [+leggi anche:
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by Olivier Baroux (7th - 2 million).

In total, nine French films exceeded the one-million-admissions mark, including OSS 117: From Africa With Love [+leggi anche:
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by Nicolas Bedos (14th place – 1.6 million), The Bodin’s in the Land of Smile [+leggi anche:
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by Frédéric Forestier (15th – 1.54 million), Eiffel [+leggi anche:
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by Martin Bourboulon (16th – 1.46 million), Aline, The Voice of Love [+leggi anche:
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by Valérie Lemercier (20th – 1.28 million), Black Box [+leggi anche:
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by Yann Gozlan (21st – 1.18 million) and The Wolf and the Lion [+leggi anche:
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by Gilles de Maistre (22nd – 1.16 million).

Other French productions’ results worth mentioning are those of Xavier Giannoli’s Lost Illusions [+leggi anche:
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(22nd – 803,000), Paul Verhoeven’s Benedetta [+leggi anche:
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(326,000 entrées), Julia Ducournau’s Palme d’Or winner Titane [+leggi anche:
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(303,000), Marie Amiguet and Vincent Munier’s documentary The Velvet Queen [+leggi anche:
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(302,000 since its release on 15 December), Leos Carax’s Annette [+leggi anche:
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(283,000), Catherine Corsini’s The Divide [+leggi anche:
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(265,000), François Ozon’s Everything Went Fine [+leggi anche:
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(255,000), Patrick Imbert’s animated title The Summit of the Gods [+leggi anche:
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(203,000) and Jacques Audiard’s Paris, 13th District [+leggi anche:
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(182,000).

The category of non-national European feature films is dominated by Florian Zeller’s majority British production The Father [+leggi anche:
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(38th – 586,000) and Parallel Mothers [+leggi anche:
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by Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar (41st – 548,000). Likewise worth a mention are The Worst Person in the World [+leggi anche:
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by Norway’s Joachim Trier (202,000), the animated film Wolfwalkers [+leggi anche:
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by the Irish duo Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart (184,000), and Compartment N°. 6 [+leggi anche:
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by Finland’s Juho Kuosmanen (154,000).

(L'articolo continua qui sotto - Inf. pubblicitaria)

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