– The institutional leader of the 7th art in France responds to the untruths currently doing the rounds with an unpublished study on the economic model of French-initiative films
CNC president Gaëtan Bruel
Fending off political attacks, notably from the far-right contingent who recently went so far as to call for its abolition, the CNC (whose logo was met with applause last month during every single screening in Cannes, for the first time ever) has decided to take the bull by the horns and put pay to one of the most insistent, unfounded rumours of recent years: that only 10% of French films are profitable and the sector is only surviving thanks to State subsidies.
It’s a particularly misleading claim, given the reality of the French film industry which provides 260,000 jobs at the cutting edge of artistic and technological creativity, which is the most popular cultural activity in France (two French people out of three go to the cinema every year and, on average, cinema-goers go to movie theatres four times a year), and which is a decisive lever for pay-tv channel and streamer subscriptions, not to mention the international soft power it affords. There’s also the fact that these films’ profitability has been assessed based purely on comparing their immediate box office results with their budgets. As such, in the interests of objectivity, the CNC has closely examined the economic model of French-initiative films (FIFs) by taking into account the many different kinds of operating revenues (French cinemas, streamers, exports, TV purchases) earned by 1,823 feature films over their total life cycle (spanning upwards of ten years).
The results of this titanic statistical endeavour were revealed yesterday by CNC president Gaëtan Bruel to the National Assembly’s cultural affairs commission. It turns out that these 1,823 FIFs generated gross income of 7.9 billion euros, 49% of which via French cinemas, 36% from abroad, 10% from their streaming windows and 5% from subsequent TV purchases. And whilst 90% of this income was made during the first two years of films being released, nine films out of ten continue to generate revenue ten years after their cinema release, and 17% record over 30% of their income after the second year of their release (explaining why focusing solely on immediate box-office results gives a misleading impression).
In total, based on this very wide sample, a FIF generates average net revenue of 158,000 euros and 37% of films earn funds at the end of their lengthy exploitation cycle (20% are beneficiaries as soon as they’re released in cinemas): the sector is, therefore, profitable, even though this profitability is modest compared to production across the board, since film production remains an industry of prototypes implying elevated risk levels. This explains the importance of the CNC’s role in mutualisation and redistribution in order to support the riskiest and most innovative projects, especially first feature films which guarantee new talent, and the need to shed objective light on a sectoral economy which attracts lots of fabrication and manipulation on the part of the media (including the firmly entrenched fake news that French taxes will fund films, when the money which is collected and redistributed actually comes from the industry itself) for potentially destructive ideological ends, as recently demonstrated in Hungary which drained its film talent pool over ten or so years, obliterating the international aura of its film industry by way of large historical budgets which manipulated Magyar history and the blacklisting of independent filmmakers.
(Translated from French)
