French Films Win Praise Abroad but Struggle in American Movie Theaters

French cinema is winning awards at international festivals, but getting those movies into U.S. movie theaters and getting American viewers to buy tickets has become a very hard fight. This issue was discussed at the American French Film Festival by three U.S. distributors who shared how shrinking theater choices are squeezing their market. The panel included Robert Aronson from Cohen Media Group, John Gerrans from Strand Releasing, and Paul Hudson from Outsider Pictures.

The Changing Box Office

The money foreign films make in the U.S. has dropped a lot over the years. Jean-Pierre Jeunet's popular film "Amélie" made about $33 million in the U.S. twenty-five years ago. In contrast, Justine Triet's award-winning film "Anatomy of a Fall," distributed by Neon, earned around $5 million in the U.S. Even big French blockbusters face hurdles. Samuel Goldwyn released Pathé's two-part "The Three Musketeers" and "The Count of Monte Cristo" and acquired Antonin Baudry's historical epic "De Gaulle." Goldwyn noted that if "De Gaulle" were in English, it could easily play on 1,000 screens. Meanwhile, big streaming services and major buyers like Neon, Netflix, Mubi, A24, and Sony Pictures Classics still fight over top international titles from famous directors.

The Theater Squeeze

Independent distributors face intense competition just to book screens. Arthouse cinemas that used to show foreign films now often book Hollywood movies, or they have closed down completely. Aronson noted that even though Cohen Media Group owns Landmark Theatres, those cinemas keep their own books and need to make a profit. Distributors also compete with Hollywood blockbusters, old movie reissues, and special events for screen time. To make matters worse, other ways to make money have dried up. DVD sales are mostly gone, TV sales have dropped, and streaming platforms are paying much less. Hudson stated that Amazon Prime cut its royalty rates from 10 cents per hour viewed down to half a cent. Because of this, some distributors have pulled their movies from Amazon and are looking at platforms like Tubi, Roku, Pluto, and YouTube.

Context

Independent movie distributors bring foreign and art-house films to local screens by buying rights, handling marketing, and working directly with theater owners. Without traditional income sources like DVD sales and strong streaming payouts, these companies rely heavily on finding open theater screens and film festivals to help audiences discover new foreign movies.