Attendance at theaters in 2023 has not yet returned to pre-Covid levels, with a balance sheet of around 180 million admissions, up 18.9% compared to 2022. Discover the list of 10 films that have attracted the entries upwards.
What is the most successful film in France in 2023? What is the top 10 of the year? And what is the total number of cinema tickets sold in the past year? The National Center for Cinematography and Animated Images (CNC) unveiled its annual report this morning.
An assessment still closely observed, after attendance figures at half mast in 2021, due to the Covid crisis and the various health measures taken, having inevitably had an impact on theater attendance in 2021, and again in 2022.
“The year 2023 was the first since the pandemic where cinemas were not subject to health restrictions. With 180.76 million admissions, attendance shows a lag of only 13.1% compared to the historically high average for the years 2017 to 2019. This progression confirms the attachment of the French to the cinema experience. and their appetite for the diversity of the offering offered“, indicates the CNC in its press release.
Although attendance has picked up in 2023, it has still not returned to pre-Covid levels. Previously, attendance was around 200 million; this year it has sold nearly 181 million tickets for the year 2023.
Like 2022, 2023 will remain a fairly uneven year, with periods of troughs, and periods boosted by big successes and in particular this summer with the “Barbenheimer” combo: Barbie and Oppenheimer (+ 9.3% compared to the pre-crisis for the month of July (13.8 million admissions) and -1.3% for the month of August (10.5 million)). The start of the year was also buoyant, thanks to the Avatar 2 sequel. Around 5 million of the total 14 million admissions for Avatar 2 were recorded between January and March 2022.
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On the hollow side, the CNC underlines “a more difficult start to September and end of the year with levels around 20% lower than pre-crisis levels, particularly due to the Rugby World Cup which recorded good television audiences“.
In 2023, 42 films will achieve more than one million admissions, including two sequel films (Avatar: The Way of Water and Puss in Boots 2, released in December 2022) and 16 more than two million admissions. Three films will achieve more than five million admissions in 2023, including Avatar: The Way of Water.
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What are the Top 10 most successful films released in 2023?
It’s time to reveal the 10 films with the most admissions. With a video game and a toy in mind! Licenses and other franchises are still on the rise. On the other hand, apart from Guardians of the Galaxy 3, no other superhero film arrives in this Top.
1 – Super Mario Bros, the movie: 7.3 million admissions
2 – barbie : 5.8 million entries
3 – Asterix and Obelix: the Middle Kingdom: 4.45 million entries
4 – Oppenheimer : 4.39 million entries
5 – Alibi.com 2: 4.18 million entries
6 – Guardians of the Galaxy: volume 3: 3.45 million entries
7 – The Three Musketeers – D’Artagnan: 3.33 million admissions
8 – Elementary: 3.15 million entries
9 – Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny: 2.88 million entries
10 – Mission Impossible: Dead Reckoning part 1: 2.6 million entries
We take stock of the 2023 cinema year in a podcast in 2 parts
What are the Top 10 most successful French films released in 2023?
In 2022, no French film had managed to rank in the Top 10 of the year. This year, there are 3 to be part of it: Asterix and Obelix, Alibi.com 2 and The Three Musketeers D’Artagnan.
What results for French films in the annual report? “Once again French cinema has shown its strength and vitality in theaters with a great diversity of works which have met their audiences such as Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom (4.5 million), Alibi.com 2 ( 4.2 million), the two parts of The Three Musketeers (nearly 5.0 million cumulative), 3 Days Max (1.9 million), Miraculous – the film (1.6 million), Anatomy of a Fall (1 .2 million), Tirailleurs (1.1 million), I will always see your faces (1.1 million), My crime (1.1 million), The animal kingdom (1.0 million), Small victories (nearly 900,000 entries), Consent (600,000 entries) or the documentaries Sur l’Adamant (125,000 entries) and Les Filles d’Olfa (126,000 entries)“, indicates the CNC in its press release.
“Over the year, French films generated 71.9 million admissions, representing a market share of 39.8% (vs. 41.1% in 2022 and 37.2% on average over 2017-2019)“, specify our colleagues from Boxoffice Pro.
The Top 10 French films released between January 1 and December 31, 2023:
1 – Asterix and Obelix: the Middle Kingdom : 4.45 million entries
2 – Alibi.com 2 : 4.18 million entries
3 – The Three Musketeers – D’Artagnan : 3.33 million entries
4 – 3 days max: 1.88 million entries
5 – Miraculous the film: 1.64 million admissions
6 – Anatomy of a fall: 1.3 million entries
7 – Tirailleurs: 1.19 million entries
8 – The Three Musketeers Milady: 1.17 million admissions
9 – I will always see your faces: 1.16 million entries
10 – My Crime: 1.09 million entries
We will note in this Top the presence of Anatomy of a Fall, Palme d’Or 2023, which has therefore been able to combine critical and public success. The Passion of Dodin Bouffant, selected to represent France at the Oscars, failed to attract a large audience, having to be content with 228,038 entries.
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The CNC finally gives some keys to attendance on an international level: “Globally, France is one of the territories where the recovery in attendance is the most dynamic, being essentially driven by national production. Germany and Great Britain are also two markets where the recovery will have been vigorous, although with a preponderance of American films in this trend. Italy and Spain, which had been hit hard by the crisis, recorded strong growth in 2023, but are very far from returning to their pre-crisis level.“.
Source: CNC and CBO Box office