French Cinema Has Its Best Year Abroad Since Before The Pandemic Thanks To Animated Features Like ‘Miraculous,’ ‘Epic Tales’

According to French film promotion organization Unifrance, 2023 was the biggest year for French cinema exports since the pandemic, lead by Jeremy Zag’s Miraculous: Ladybug & Cat Noir, The Movie.

Unifrance’s report indicates that French films sold 37.4 million admissions abroad in 2023, generating 234 million euros ($255 million) in box-office revenues. That represented a 38.5% increase from the previous year, although those totals were still below pre-Covid levels. In 2019, French films drew 45.9 million admissions.

Miraculous: Ladybug & Cat Noir, The Movie was the biggest French export in 2023, and by a huge margin. The film sold 7.15 million tickets abroad and grossed 31.8 million euros ($34.6 million) from 26 territories. Not bad for a film that was a Netflix streaming exclusive in the U.S. The next closest film on France’s export list was Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom, which sold 2.74 million tickets and grossed 12.2 million euros ($13.3 million).

Two other animated features finished in France’s top 10 export list: David Alaux, Eric Tosti, and Jean-François Tosti’s Epic Tales was third with 1.76 million admissions for 10.4 million euros ($11.3 million), and Laurent Bru, Yannick Moulin, and Benoît Somville’s The Jungle Bunch 2: World Tour finished 10th, selling 460,000 tickets for a 2.33 million euro ($2.5 million) international gross.

One significant contributing factor to the offshore success of French exports was a lack of U.S. competition in Russia, which was the leading international market for French films in 2023. French films sold more than 7 million admissions in Russia, grossing over 21.7 million Euros ($22.6 million).

The top five territories for French film exports were:

1. Russia – 7.09 million admissions, 21.7 million euros ($22.6 million)
2. Germany – 4.21 million admissions, 34.4 million euros ($37.5 million)
3. Poland – 3.25 million admissions, 13.4 million euros ($14.6 million)
4. Italy – 2.72 million admissions, 15.4 million euros ($16.8 million)
5. Spain – 1.8 million admissions, 10.8 million euros ($11.8 million)

It was a good year for French titles on SVOD platforms as well. According to Ampere Analysis, in July of 2023, 4.6% of films and stand-alone productions on global SVOD platforms in July of last year were majority financed with French funds. More than 5,000 French titles appeared on streaming platforms internationally.