Universal (almost) stops investing in French films

Universal Pictures France recently decided to stop investing in French films. The American production company's subsidiary cited a decision based on a decline in the number of viewership of "made in France" films.

An analysis leads us to find out how French cinema is really doing this year? Not very well, if we stick to the box office figures. The first six months of 2025 were marked by a virtual absence of French successes. Only God Save the Tuche (3,001,828 entries), My mother, God and Sylvie Vartan ( 1,506,950) and a Bear in the Jura (1,482,761) have managed to exceed one million admissions in France. While Hollywood blockbusters like Lilo and Stitch, Minecraft, the film, Mission: Impossible - The Final Reckoning, F1, the film, Jurassic World: Renaissance, Captain America: Brave New World or even Thunderbolts* are all dominating the podiums.

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For comparison , last year, three French films managed to exceed 4 million admissions, including two that hit the jackpot. L'Amour ouf attracted nearly 5 million French people, The Count of Monte-Cristo nearly 10 million, and A Little Something Extra nearly 11 million. After a difficult first few months in 2025, some producers based in France are therefore deciding to scale back their plans. This is the case of Universal Pictures France, which recently decided to stop investing in French films.

" For coherent reasons, we are officially stopping French films. The financial results are too unpredictable ," revealed Xavier Albert, the general director of Universal France, in an interview with Ecran Total at the end of June. " When a French work finds its audience, it works extremely well, but when it fails, there are no limits ."

" We are suspending all our investments in these films because we don't have the necessary weapons to compete in terms of attention and talent with only two or three feature films per year ," he added. The last two French features to be released under the auspices of Universal Pictures France would therefore be The Secret Life of Rich Men, in theaters since July 23, and The Incredible Shrinking Man, expected on October 29. "I now refuse all projects of this type that are sent to me ," explains the studio's CEO.

Enough to scare French film fans. Will we therefore have fewer French movies on screen? After an uproar on the Web, the studio is trying to make up for lost time in an interview with Variety . " Universal Pictures France will continue to broadcast some French films but will be more selective in the future." The studio would therefore like to succeed in reconnecting with its original successes like Babysitting (2,307,718 admissions) and Heartbreaker (3,798,089 admissions), French films acclaimed by critics and which have, at the same time, achieved good scores at the box office. To give you an idea, recent films distributed by Universal Pictures France have not exceeded 200,000 admissions. Rapide , a car movie like the French version of Fast and Furious, only attracted 172,030 spectators. The comedy Angels & Co. attracted 110,781 admissions and the dramatic comedy On a Wire only achieved 71,798 admissions.