French Film Industry Sees Increase in International Co-Productions, Spike in Investment From Streamers
France engaged in a record 144 international co-productions in 2022, while the number of majority French movies produced dropped by 10% to 208 titles, according to a study unveiled by the National Film Board (CNC).
For the first time since 2003, half of the movies produced in France were international co-productions (with 33 countries) last year, compared with 42.1 % in 2021 and 39.6 % between 2017 and 2019.
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Investment in films dropped by 12.8% to €1.18 billion ($1.30 billion) compared with 2021, while foreign investment broke a 10-year record.
In France, TV channels as well as streamers (since the start of 2022) are required to invest a percentage of annual revenue on French and European productions. As such, they invested a total of €280.78 million in 159 films in 2022, a 8.3 % drop compared with the average invested between 2017 and 2019.
Free-to-air channels, such as TF1 and M6, invested €111.25 million in 2022, a 15.4 % year-on-year drop and a record low since 2014 (with the exception of 2020 during the pandemic).
Meanwhile, streamers, including Netflix, Disney+ and Prime Video invested €21 million across 17 French movies, representing 7.5% of the total amount invested by free- and pay-TV channels and platforms.
Investment through deals for theatrical and home entertainment/TV rights fell by 18.3% to €131.7 million compared with the average between 2017 and 2019.
While the average budget was €4.40 million, there were 39 films budgeted above €7 million, repping 18.8% of all majority French productions last year.
At least four French movies boasted budgets above €20 million, including Jeremy Zag’s “Miraculous” (€60 million), followed by Dany Boon’s “la Vie pour de vrai” (€21.9 million), Maiwenn’s “Jeanne du Barry” starring Johnny Depp (€20.6 million) and Luc Besson’s “Dogman” starring Caleb Landry Jones (€20.4 million).
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