182 million admissions herald uncertain results for 2007
With the year drawing to a close, audience figures in France have reached 160.7m (€954.5m in box office earnings), down 4.7% compared to the same period in 2006, according to data released by the National Centre for Cinematography (CNC).
During the last six years, the month of December has seen audience figures range from 20-24m, therefore predicted figures for 2007 are around 182m admissions – a decline from 188.67m in 2006 but an improvement on 2005 results (175.39m).
However, November recorded a below average performance that is cause for concern with a 21.6% decline in admissions at 13.12m, down from 16.74m in November 2006. This marks the worst November in the past ten years, with the lowest figures for the month dating back to 2000 with 13.85m admissions.
The drop in admissions affects national productions in particular with their market share from January to the end of November 2007 amounting to 36.7% (down 7.2 points from 2006), whereas US productions have attracted 50.1% of cinemagoers (up 5.2 points). In November, only Frenchmen 2 [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Marc Esposito (1.7m admissions grossed) exceeded the 500,000 admission mark for French films.
The issue of the quality of films on offer becomes even more pertinent given that certain films with disappointing earnings monopolise a large number of screens. And the general gridlock of releases leaves scant opportunities for the exhibition and promotion of works of a much higher quality that could easily expand upon their success, such as German director Fatih Akin’s The Edge of Heaven [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Fatih Akin
interview: Klaus Maeck
film profile] (distributed by Pyramide), which garnered 250,000 admissions in three weeks, released on between 160 and 180 screens.
This analysis is confirmed by the mediocre figures recorded during the first five of the release of Gérard Krawczyk’s €21.5m comedy L’auberge rouge [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (“The Red Inn”), launched on 582 of France’s 5000 screens, and the results for the first two weeks of Daniel Cohen’s Deux Mondes [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (“Two Worlds”), initially released on 470 screens.
(Translated from French)
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