Record month for cinema attendance
More than 20 million tickets sold in July, up 56% on last year, helped by foreign blockbusters such as Harry Potter
FRENCH cinemas have recorded their best July attendance figures in almost 30 years – up 56.1% on the same month last year.
But data released today reveals it was the big American summer holiday blockbusters that contributed to the high figures, rather than home-grown French films.
The Centre National de la Cinématographie said 20.74 million tickets were sold last month. The July figure has not been above 20 million since 1980.
In the seven months from January to the end of July, 117.9 million cinema visits were recorded, up 2.6% on the same period in 2008.
About 35% of these were visits to see French films. This is down from 50% last year, when the French film Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis attracted 20 million.
The foreign films contributing to the record figures include Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, which was seen by 4.9 million people in its opening fortnight.
Other big successes included Pixar's Up (called Là-haut in French), Dreamworks' Ice Age 3 and gangster film Public Enemies.
The head of the Ciné Chiffres research institute, Sylvain Laurendeau, said: "Despite the good weather in France which, logically, leads to a drop in cinema attendance, these figures are excellent.
"This increase in cinema-going is much more visible outside of Paris than it is in the capital."
