Cinemas worldwide are still struggling with the after-effects of the Covid pandemic, but France's screens bucked a broad downturn in developed markets last year, providing lessons for other countries.
The French industry recorded a million more cinema-goers in 2024 compared to the year before and is back to the same level of revenues as the pre-Covid era, setting it apart from its peers, industry figures show.
"In 2024, all large European countries but also the United States are down compared to entries in 2023," the head of France's National Cinema Center (CNC), Olivier Henrard, commented on attendance figures revealed at the end of the year.
The only other bright spots internationally were Brazil and Bolivia, where the number of cinema entries also increased.
Covid shuttered theaters across the globe in 2020-2021 and brought movie production to a standstill, while lockdowns saw many consumers invest in online streaming services like Netflix and new high-end TVs. When screens reopened permanently at the end of the health emergency, some commentators questioned if the cinema industry would ever recover.
A shortage of post-Covid releases followed by a major 2023 strike by Hollywood screenwriters compounded the problems, severely reducing the pipeline of new flicks needed to entice fans back to multiplexes or independent theatres.
France has rebounded stronger than most, but is still not back to pre-Covid levels in terms of ticket sales, with the number of entries last year still down by around 13% compared with the 2017-2019 period.
The relative resilience of the French market bears witness to the enduring love affair with the silver screen in the land of the Cannes Film Festival, as well as long-standing state support for French-language productions and cinema operators.
The French exception in 2024 was also the result of popular local releases, including the top-selling Un p'tit truc en plus (A Little Something Extra), a comedy about a father and son who go to work in a holiday camp for people with disabilities.
The second-biggest box office hit was a high-budget French adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' epic novel The Count of Monte Cristo starring actor Pierre Niney, which was also the country's biggest foreign export.
Overall, French films accounted for 44% of cinema entries last year, the highest proportion since 2008, according to CNC figures.
"Outside of the United States, no other country gets close to this figure," CNC chairman Henrard told the France Inter radio station. "In our large European neighbors, it's around 15-25%."
In total, French cinemas recorded 181 million entries in 2024, a rise of 0.5% from 2023.