Powered by Gaumont’s “The Intouchables” (pictured above), EuropaCorp’s “Taken 2″ and Wild Bunch’s Oscar-winning “The Artist,” French film sales scored €211.3 million ($282.2 million) in 2012, a 34.9% year-on hike and a 10-year record, reports Variety.
Figures were compiled by the National Film Board (CNC), in collaboration with the ADEF (Assn. of French Sales Agents) and IFCIC.
While film sales surged, the overseas box office of French pics also skyrocketed by 93.8% to 144.1 million admissions, of which 70.6% were garnered by the top five movies.
Yet, while “Intouchables” and “The Artist” sold a combined 45 million tickets in 2012, a flurry of other French-language films – notably Wild Bunch’s “Asterix and Obelix: God Save Britannia,” EuropaCorp’s toon “Monster in Paris” and Les Films du Losange’s “Amour” — sold 20 million theater admissions. “Taken 2,” meanwhile, attracted 47.3 million moviegoers outside France.
Nine pics fared particularly well, selling between half a million and 1 million admissions. These included Pathe’s “Houba! On the Trail of the Marsupilami” and “What’s in a Name,” SND’s “Service Entrance,” Studiocanal’s “La Delicatesse” and Wild Bunch’s “Rust and Bone.”
French sales companies thrived with both homegrown and foreign films in 2012. Indeed, revs from foreign pics sales climbed 17.1% to $118.6 million, while deals on Gallic movies rose 43.1% to $248.4 million.
Sales to North America climbed 35.2% to $80 million, repping 28.6% of worldwide deals.
Read more of this report from Variety.