In the two territories, ticket sales for 2022 were 34.5% below the 2017-2019 average, accounting for an estimated loss of 338.9 million admissions

November by Cédric Jimenez, one of the best-performing titles at the French box office in 2022

The European Audiovisual Observatory (EAO) has disclosed preliminary data on cinema attendance in 2022. In detail, the European Union and the UK reached an estimated 643 million admissions, marking a 63% year-on-year increase, with 249 million more tickets sold than in 2021.

“A similar rebound was observed when considering the European Union only (EU27), where ticket sales hit an estimated 525.8 million in 2022, 205.7 million admissions more than in 2021, +64% year on year,” the EAO’s official press release further explains.

Even though these provisional figures mark a clear improvement in comparison with 2021, “when cinemas were shut down intermittently in several markets”, cinema attendance is still far from reaching pre-pandemic levels.Specifically, 2022 ticket sales in the two territories were 34.5% below (-34.9% if we take into account the EU27 countries alone) the 2017-2019 average, accounting for an estimated loss of 338.9 million tickets (-281.7 million admissions for the EU27 area).

Even though it is undeniable that Europe’s theatrical sector is struggling and has not fully recovered from the effects of the health crisis, the press release highlights “significant differences across individual countries”.

In the EU, the year-on-year increase in attendance was significantly above average in Latvia (+241%, + 1.2 million admissions), Slovenia (+143%, +1 million), Lithuania (+124%, +1.7 million), Slovakia (+110%, +2.2 million) and Germany (+85%, +35.9 million). Conversely, year-on-year growth was comparatively low in Poland (+51%, +13.4 million admissions), Spain (+33%, +13.7 million) and Croatia (+32%, +0.8 million).

France recorded the largest admission volume in Europe for 2022, with a total of 152 million tickets sold (+59% on 2021), whilst Denmark was the EU country showing the highest degree of recovery against pre-pandemic attendance levels, as admissions reached as much as 82% of the 2017-2019 average. Denmark was followed by the Czech Republic (81%), Bulgaria (77%), Austria and France (73%). Italy was the market that suffered the most, as “only 47.9 million tickets were sold in 2022, representing less than half of the average attendance levels between 2017 and 2019”.

The EAO’s figures also show that the UK’s ticket sales went up by 58% (117.3 million admissions, or 43.3 million more than in 2021, corresponding to 67% of pre-pandemic levels), whilst Turkey’s grew by 189% on 2021, but only accounted for 53% of 2017-2019 attendance levels.

Unsurprisingly, the EU and UK box office was mostly driven by US blockbusters, such as Avatar: The Way of Water, Top Gun: Maverick and Minions: The Rise of Gru. On a more positive note, the market share of domestic films “increased in half of the 24 EU markets for which 2022 data were available, rising above the 2017-2019 average in 16 territories”.

France registered the highest market share of domestic productions in the EU (41%), followed by the Czech Republic (37%), Denmark (30%), Finland and Germany (27%). This share decreased to 30% in the UK (as against 42% in 2021 and an average of 44% in the period 2017-2019) – of which only 8% was made up of independent British productions not backed by US studios. Finally, Turkey saw the same figure “rising from a record low of 23% in 2021 to 51% in 2022, slightly below the levels registered in previous years”.