46 million admissions: a great summer for French cinemas

Cinema attendance was spectacular in June, July and August, much higher than last year.

Stronger than Barbenheimer ! The summer of 2024 will have been radiant, in the dark rooms of France. The CNC is taking stock of the summer holiday season these days and it is more than positive.

With a total of 46.19 million tickets sold in June/July/August 2024, attendance was significantly higher than in 2023, when there were 43.95 million spectators over the same period. A spectacular increase of 5.1%, which owes much to French films, which have carved out a particularly high market share of 44.1%.

“Our French cinema brings together a fraction of the public that has absolutely no equivalent in other European countries, this is the best proof of the excellence of our model of cultural exception: it offers a diversity of films in which all French people find themselves”underlines Olivier Henrard, Deputy Director General and Acting President of the CNC.

And for good reason, the enormous scores of the Count of Monte Cristo (8 million) and A little something extra (10 million) combined with the good beginnings ofEmilia Perez have largely driven summer attendance. To which must of course be added the American blockbusters: Deadpool & Wolverine, Alien: Romulus, Bad Boys 4, Twisters And A Quiet Place: Day 1 also contributed to these excellent scores. Finally, the animation – with Inside Out 2 And Despicable Me 4 at the top of the gondola – was, once again, one of the nerve centers of the summer vacation war.

The fact remains that August was significantly less successful than July (14 million compared to 18 million) and that attendance in 2024 is still much lower than that of 2023 after eight months of operation: a drop of -5.7%, mainly due to a catastrophic month of April (-36%).