Most successful French movies at the global box office 2023

The animated movie "Miraculous: Ladybug & Cat Noir – The Movie" was the highest-grossing French movie in foreign theaters in 2023 with a box office revenue of 31.8 million euros. "Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom", the latest live-action adaptation of the famous comic book, came in second position with just over 18 million euros garnered at the global box office.

Animation made in France

French animation has always been a pillar of the industry, alongside other major producers such as the United States and Japan, both on its own territory and abroad. With an estimated budget of over 80 million euros, making it the second most expensive French film, "Miraculous: Ladybug & Cat Noir - The Movie" sold 7.15 million tickets in foreign theaters. French-made animations have also made a name for themselves on the international television market. The sales of French TV animation to other countries more than doubled over the past decade and reached their peak with a total of 77.4 million euros in 2019. Export sales have slightly decreased since then, reaching about 58 million euros as of 2022.

An oversea success

Still, the success of French movies abroad is not limited to animated productions. As of 2023, the number of admissions of French movies in foreign theaters reached 71.9 million admissions, around 37 million among them for French-speaking movies – thus almost fully recovering to pre-pandemic levels. In 2022, Western Europe was by far the leading importer of French movies in terms of generated revenues, accounting for over 50 million euros. This was twice as much as the second-biggest region, North America.