25/07/2011

According to a report published by consultancy firm Media Research & Consultancy (MRC), a total of €51.7m in box office takings was raked in during the first half of 2011 by Spanish-produced films, whether they be 100%, majority or minority productions.

This figure is a spectacular improvement on the results for 2010, when it was just under €30m, representing a 73% increase. Meanwhile, the market share reached 17.52%, almost seven points higher than that obtained in the first half of 2010 (9.56%).

Although the results are good, they’re hardly a surprise, as the releases slated for 2011 promised to be one of the best crops in recent years. Moreover, improving on 2010’s poor figures wasn’t a particularly difficult task.

Usually, the first half of the year is somewhat slacker than the second half in terms of takings for Spanish films (9.56% and 15.74% respectively in 2010; 10.29% and 18.86% in 2009; and 7.68% and 19.12% in 2007, with the sole exception of 2008, when the first half outperformed the second by one and a half points). If this trend continues in 2011, Spanish films could this year achieve a market share of 20%.

Moreover, the Spanish box office usually depends to a great extent on a string of sure-bet names. And this year brought one of the biggest guarantees of success: Santiago Segura and his Torrente series. The fourth instalment in this outlandish saga, Torrente 4: Lethal Crisis [+see also:
trailer
film profile], grossed €19.53m (more than a third of the total takings).

Next in the box office rankings for Spanish films are Woody Allen’s co-production Midnight in Paris [+see also:
trailer
film profile], with €5.95m; Iciar Bollain’s Even the Rain [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Icíar Bollaín
film profile], with €3.80m; and Daniel Sánchez Arévalo’s Cousins [+see also:
trailer
film profile], with €3.51m.

(Translated from Spanish)