Cinema: a disastrous year 2020 for French cinemas

An empty cinema hall in Mulhouse, October 29, 2020. AFP - SEBASTIEN BOZON

Text by: Elisabeth Lequeret Follow

2 min

2020, “annus horribilis” for French cinema which, depending on the two confinements, will have seen dark rooms closed for five months and, inevitable consequence, will have suffered a vertiginous drop in attendance.

The CNC, National Center for Cinematography, has just delivered the attendance figures and they are disastrous.

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It is a record, a sad record: the attendance of cinemas in France fell by 70% in 2020. According to the National Cinematography Center (CNC), cinemas recorded only 65.10 million admissions this year, against 213.07 million in 2019. Almost poverty and a source of deep concern for professionals, especially since the hoped-for reopening of theaters on January 7 seems to be compromised.

While on average around twenty films reach or exceed two million admissions, there were only three in 2020:

Tenet

by Christopher Nolan (2.3 million admissions),

1917

by Sam Mendes and

Sonic

by Jeff Fowler.

Some French films have done well

Little consolation, the market share of French films has jumped and passed American films.

Some have pulled out of the game. This is the case of

Antoinette

 in the 

Cevennes

, and

Simply Black

, left between the two confinements.

Others, on the other hand, like

Adieu les cons

by Albert Dupontel or

ADN

de Maïwenn were stopped in full swing.

Not to mention those who, like

Mandibules

, the new comedy by Quentin Dupieux, were ready for a release during the Christmas holidays, with thousands of posters already posted.

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