100% more spectators in French cinemas in August 2026

50 million tickets were sold in cinemas in France this summer. Unheard of in 15 years.

We knew that the summer of 2026 had been exceptional in French cinemas. The latest figures from the CNC confirm the scale of the phenomenon.

19.94 million spectators attended cinemas in August, a spectacular increase of 100.2% compared to August 2025, which recorded 9.96 million admissions.

This is quite simply the best performance ever recorded for a month of August since monthly statistics were established in 1980. The previous record dates back to 2014, with 19.5 million tickets sold.

As since the beginning of the summer, two behemoths have largely boosted this attendance. Spider-Man: Brand New Day And The Odyssey between them attracted nearly 12 million spectators in August, or around 58% of all admissions recorded in French cinemas over the period.

But the two blockbusters are not the only ones responsible for this incredible dynamic. PAW Patrol: The Movie – Mission Dino and French comedy Fallen from the sky together attracted nearly 3 million spectators. Added to this is the phenomenon The Battle of Gaulle : his diptych, composed of The Iron Age And I write your namenow exceeds 5.3 million cumulative admissions since the start of summer.

A historic summer

August thus concludes a completely crazy summer for French cinema: nearly 50 million admissions were recorded in just three months: 13.18 million in June, 17.53 million in July and therefore 19.94 million in August.

We have to go back to 2011 to find such a busy summer, with 52.1 million admissions over the three months.

The dynamic is also spectacular throughout the year. 127.92 million spectators have already visited French cinemas between January and August, an increase of 28.5% compared to the first eight months of 2025.

2026 is well on its way to being the best vintage in theaters since the health crisis.

However, there is still a way to go to return to pre-Covid levels: the current cumulative figure remains 6.6% lower than the average for the years 2017-2019, which stood at 136.93 million admissions over the first eight months.