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EXHIBITORS Spain

3D films help achieve second best box office results of decade

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As we wrote a few days ago (see news), 2009 saw a 9% increase in Spanish box office takings, which reached €675m, an upward trend experienced in most western European countries.

The rise in takings was greater than the rise in admissions, which went up by 2.8% to 110 million. This underscores the part played in this significant increase by 3D movies, which are more expensive to watch than traditional films.

The €675m in takings is, moreover, the second best result of the decade in Spain, as stated in the report presented yesterday by the Federation of Spanish Cinemas (FECE). According to the latter, the main causes of this phenomenon are the economic crisis (which boosted business for cheaper leisure activities, such as movie-going), the emergence of 3D (impossible to pirate at home) and the high results for Spanish films.

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The three best-performing films were Up (biggest box office hit of the year with €24.3m in takings and 3.6m admissions); Agora [+see also:
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(most successful Spanish production, with €20.9m in takings and 3.3m viewers); and Avatar (whose substantial takings will be split between 2009 and 2010, but despite everything the best-performing 3D film).

On the subject of 3D, FECE emphasised the increase in exhibition by Spanish theatres equipped with digital projectors, whose numbers have gone up from 53 in 2008 to 286 in 2009. According to the federation, this significant rise has been achieved thanks to €32m in private investment.

Meanwhile, politicians operate a carrot and stick policy, according to FECE, which approves of the central government’s anti-piracy measures (see news), while expressing its concern about the Catalan government’s initiative for setting a quota of films dubbed in Catalan (see news).

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(Translated from Spanish)

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