10-05-2011

Central Europe Sees Growth in Cinema Attendance

By FNE Staff

    With the exception of Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary, Central European territories saw the national share of total box office rise in 2010, according to a new report by the European Audiovisual Observatory. Box office for national films showed surprising growth in Bulgaria, Latvia, and Slovenia, territories which had suffered from audience disinterest in previous years.

    Across the CEE region as a whole, only Lithuania saw a decline in box office revenues for all films, dropping 7.1%, to 9.8 million euros. On the other end of the scale, Romania and Bulgaria had the largest increases. Romanian box office grew 29.2% (to 26.4 million euros) and Bulgarian box office was up 28.1% (at 16.5 million euros), while an increase in attendance in Bulgaria outperformed all other EU territories, with a 25.1% increase, to 4 million admissions.

    While admissions dropped across the EU in general by 1.6%, CEE territories typically saw increases. They include a 19.5% rise in Estonia (2.1 million admissions), and an increase of 8.7% in Slovenia (2.9 million admissions). Polish box office grew 11.8% (175.6 million euros), but attendance fell by 4.3% (37.5 million admissions). The report credits U.S. 3D blockbusters and their higher ticket prices for the overall growth in EU box office.

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