French B.O. Surges by 33% During First Five Months of 2023, Driven by Spike in U.S. Releases, Standout French Fare

Aside from its Palme dOr for Justine Triets Anatomy of a Fall, the French cinema world is also celebrating the near-complete recovery of French box office after the pandemic.

Ticket sales are still 11.6% down on the average levels of 2017 to 2019, but the good news is that the B.O. jumped by 33% with 82.38 million admissions during the first five months of 2023, according to the CNC (National Film Board).

The upward trend is driven by the spike in anticipated U.S. movies being released they skyrocketed from 29 in 2022 to 51 in 2023 during the first five months, according to Comscore France. Theres also been a tide of successful French movies, ranging from big-budget, franchise-based movies like Guillaume Canets Asterix and Obelix: The Middle Kingdom, Philippe Lacheaus Alibi.com 2 and Martin Bourboulons The Three Musketeers: DArtagnan, to original fare like the Omar Sy starrer Father and Soldier and Franois Ozons 1950s-set courtroom comedy The Crime is Mine. Maiwenns Jeanne du Barry starring Johnny Depp ranks as Mays fifth biggest hit with more than 550,000 admissions ($4.3 million) since its world premiere on opening night of the Cannes Film Festival.

TheSuper Mario Bros. Movie and Avatar: The Way of Water top with the B.O. so far this year with an estimated $54 million from 7 million admissions, and $40.9 million from 5.3 million tickets, respectively. But unlike last year, the 2023 chart isnt entirely dominated by U.S. blockbusters Asterix and Obelix: the Middle Kingdom, Alibi.com 2 and The Three Musketeers: DArtagnan rank third, fourth and fifth.

Both from Path Films, Asterix and Obelix: the Middle Kingdom (produced by Les Films du Tresor and Les Enfants Terribles) and The Three Musketeers: DArtagnan (produced by Chapter 2, a Mediawan company) grossed an estimated $35.4 million from 4.6 million admissions, and $24.6 million from 3.2 million admissions, respectively. Alibi.com 2, the second installment of the comedy franchise handled by Studiocanal, meanwhile, grossed approximately $32.4 million from 4.2 million admissions.

Asterix and Obelix: the Middle Kingdom is the fifth movie inspired by the Frenchcomicbooks, while The Three Musketeers: DArtagnan is the first opus of a two-film saga based on Alexandre Dumas classic. Both star-packed films have budgets of approximately $70 million and were sold around the world.

Frances top 10 is completed by Guardians of the Galaxy 3, Creed 3, Fast X, Ant-Manand theWasp:Quantumania and Babylon, which performed better than in other markets, according to Comscore France.