The French box office continued its strong momentum through May with nearly 15 million admissions clocked over the month, up 33.2% from the same month last year, according to figures from the CNC.
The figures amount to a gross of approximately €111 million, based on an average ticket price of €7.40.
Admissions were high over the first three weeks of May, but fell by 42% compared to the week before during the final week of the month, likely due to a heatwave throughout much of the country.
Universal Pictures’ music biopic Michael danced its way to the top of the charts with 3.5 million additional admissions since its April 22 release, to give it a total tally of some 5 million tickets sold
Hollywood franchise films dominated the other top slots, including Disney’s The Devil Wears Prada 2, released on April 29, with 2.5 million admissions; Universal’s Super Mario Galaxy with another 850,000 added to its 5.5 million total since April 1, and Disney’s Star Wars: The Mandalorian And Grogu, which notched up 485,000 admissions following its May 20 release.
French titles held their own with Eric Toledano and Olivier Nakache’s 1980s-set family comedy Just An Illusion. Released by Gaumont, taking the third slot with 900,000 more tickets sold over the month for a total 1.9 million since its April 15 release.
Studio TF1’s first film released under its just-launched distribution banner, Reem Kherici’s Good Vibes Only (Pour Le Plaisir), about the invention of a groundbreaking French sex toy, has started strong with some 600,000 tickets sold since its May 6 release.
Cannes premieres also fared quite well. Pierre Salvadori’s opening-night film The Electric Kiss, released by Diaphana, sold 450,000 tickets after its May 12 release, the same day it premiered in Cannes.
Vincent Garenq’s Forsaken (L’Abandon) about the murder of French schoolteacher Samuel Paty sold a solid nearly 400,000 tickets following its May 13 release via UGC.
Following a lacklustre 2025, ticket sales have soared since the start of the year, with a 20% increase over the first five months of 2026 to some 77.1 million admissions (€570m). The boost is a combination of strong performances from both Hollywood fare and local hits, with French films taking a 44.4% market share and US titles 45%.
Hopes are now high for June as the month kicks off with the June 3 release of the first part of Antonin Baudry’s historical thriller De Gaulle: Resistance (Pathe) after its Cannes premiere along with US title Scary Movie 6 (Paramount), followed by Steven Spielberg’s long-anticipated sci-fi epic Disclosure Day (Universal) on June 10.
Kane Parsons’ US box office phenomenon Backrooms, released by Metropolitan and Disney’s Toy Story 5 both open on June 17, to be followed by Universal’s Minions And Monsters on June 24.
Local titles that could stand out include Le Pacte’s historical comedy Moliere, Cyrano & The Young King, directed by Michel Leclerc’, and Cannes premieres Quentin Dupieux’s Cannes premieres Vertiginous and Agnès Jaoui’s late May release Crescendo, released by Diaphana and Studiocanal respectively, along with Warner Bros. thriller Mata starring Cannes opening and closing ceremony host Eye Haidara.
