France’s box office bounced back in October following a sluggish September despite disruption from mass protests throughout the country.
Admissions rose 17% year-on-year to 14.7 million, according to CNC estimates. This equates to approximately €108.5m in box office revenue, based on an average ticket price of €7.40.
Local films and Cannes standouts led the month. Family comedy Ducobu And The Ghost Of Saint-Potache (UGC), the latest instalment in the franchise based on a Belgian comic book, topped the monthly chart with just over 1.2 million admissions. After a modest opening, attendance jumped 23% in its second week and 64% in its third.
Close behind were Paramount’s Heart Of The Beast, which added 1.1 million admissions in October for a cumulative 1.6 million, and Fred Cavayé’s big-budget adaptation of Les Misérables (Studiocanal), also with just over 1.1 million. Family-friendly French releases including comedy La Maison De Nos Rêves (Apollo Films) and animated dog feature Yugly (SND) attracted audiences as well.
Several Cannes titles performed strongly, including Guillaume Canet’s Karma (Pathe) with 595,000 admissions after two weeks, and Emmanuel Marre’s Competition entry A Man Of His Time (Condor), which has drawn 740,000 since September 30, making it the most successful title from this year’s Cannes Competition at the French box office to date.
Jeanne Herry’s Garance (Studiocanal) added 480,000 admissions during October for a cumulative 693,000, while Louis Clichy’s animation Iron Boy (KMBO) reached 408,000 following an October 14 release.
Andrey Zvyagintsev’s Cannes Grand Prix winner and France’s international Oscar submission Minotaur (Les Films du Losange) hit 190,000 admissions, while Marine Atlan’s Critics’ Week Grand Prix winner La Gradiva (Tandem) reached 155,000 after two weeks.
Another Cannes Competition entry, László Nemes’ Second World War biopic Moulin (Studio TF1) starring Gilles Lellouche, is off to a promising start, drawing nearly 350,000 admissions in its first week following an October 28 release.
However, the traditionally strong Toussaint (All Saints) school holidays proved less buoyant than expected, with no film exceeding 500,000 admissions in a single week despite a strong slate of French releases. Demonstrations intensified from October 17, coinciding with the start of the two-week holiday period, disrupting transport, cultural venues and cinemas, particularly in Paris.
While their precise impact on national admissions is difficult to quantify, Rentrak confirmed attendance fell 100,000 short of expectations on October 17 and 80,000 on October 24, with Paris particularly affected. Rentrak attributed the weaker October 31 weekend largely to the end of the holidays, family travel and unusually warm weather rather than further demonstrations.
US releases were thin on the ground, with just six opening in October. Disappointments included Warner Bros’ Digger, which opened on more than 500 screens but only attracted around 375,000 admissions, and Sony’s Verity, with 575,000 since September 30.
Nevertheless, US films retained the largest year-to-date market share at 43%, compared with 40% for French films and 17% for other international productions.
Can 190 million admissions be reached?
The October rebound followed September’s 7.3% decline, the first year-on-year drop of 2026 after eight consecutive months of growth and a record-breaking summer.
The recovery lifted year-to-date admissions to 151.8 million, up 25% on 2025 and 6% ahead of 2024. It is the strongest first 10 months since 2022, while the rolling 12-month total reached 186.3 million, compared with 160.1 million a year earlier.
France remains on course for its strongest post-pandemic box-office year, although further nationwide strikes involving students and trade unions, expected from Thursday (November 5), could pose another challenge. Reaching 190 million admissions would require another 38.2 million tickets sold in November and December.
Rentrak France general manager Eric Marti sees the milestone as achievable. Based on his estimate of around 155 million admissions through October and a November-December average of 35 million since 2023, he projects a year-end total of around 190 million.
The year-end slate includes awards contenders Wild Horse Nine (Disney), Club Kid and I Play Rocky (Metropolitan), and James Gray’s Paper Tiger (SND), as well as blockbuster hopefuls The Hunger Games: Sunrise On The Reaping (Metropolitan), Marvel’s Avengers: Doomsday (Disney) and SND’s animation Asterix – The Kingdom Of Nubia.
French highlights include Women On Trial (Gaumont) starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, Cedric Kahn’s A Place To Heal (Ad Vitam), Alexandre Smia’s geopolitical thriller Jupiter (SND), Stéphane Brizé’s A Good Little Soldier (Gaumont) and Jean-Pierre Jeunet’s Violette (Studiocanal).
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