Laura Carollo
Research expert covering cinema and film
The export of French movies and TV shows - statistics & facts
2023 was the best year for French films and series exports since the pandemic. While series such as "Emily in Paris" and "Lupin", both available on Netflix, are the talk of the town each time a new season drops, French cinema stands out in general for its steady production and international recognition. After the box office hit "Anatomy of a Fall" was awarded the Oscar for Original Screenplay at the latest Academy Awards ceremony on March 10, 2024, France remains the country with the highest number of nominations for International Feature Film, after Italy.
The triumph of French series such as “Lupin”, whose first season was one of Netflix’s most viewed non-English TV shows as of April 2023, is proof of the appeal of this type of content to the audience of video-on-demand platforms. With the aim of diversifying their offering, platforms are more willing than ever to invest in the production of French TV series.
Over the years, France has succeeded in strengthening its position in the international market, both on the big and the small screen. French animation exports particularly well. While the most-seen film abroad was an animated feature, France had 65 ongoing animation programs commissioned for TV and video-on-demand as of 2022, following the United States and Japan.
Western Europe remains the first importer
In 2022, the movie industry in France claimed a market share of more than two percent of the global box office results. Western Europe was the leading importing market for French films, totaling over 50 million euros in 2022, as well as the first importer territory for French TV formats, with a total exceeding 57 percent that same year. The same applies to streaming video platforms, where Spain and Italy topped the list of countries with the highest share of French movies on subscription video-on-demand. In 2023, more than 20 percent of movies available on the British streaming platform Mubi were French productions, the highest share among SVOD platforms.A growing market
While the global movie industry is still on the mend, the number of admissions to French movies in foreign theaters reached 71.9 million in 2023, more than half of which were for French-speaking productions. After a significant drop in 2020, admissions numbers increased consistently since then and in 2023 had almost bounced back to pre-pandemic levels. Movies such as “Miraculous: Ladybug & Cat Noir – The Movie" and "Asterix & Obelix: The Middle Kingdom” drove the success of French cinema abroad, which generated 234 million euros in international theaters.The triumph of French series such as “Lupin”, whose first season was one of Netflix’s most viewed non-English TV shows as of April 2023, is proof of the appeal of this type of content to the audience of video-on-demand platforms. With the aim of diversifying their offering, platforms are more willing than ever to invest in the production of French TV series.
Over the years, France has succeeded in strengthening its position in the international market, both on the big and the small screen. French animation exports particularly well. While the most-seen film abroad was an animated feature, France had 65 ongoing animation programs commissioned for TV and video-on-demand as of 2022, following the United States and Japan.
