13/05/2009

According to a study undertaken by the European Audiovisual Observatory, a total of 1 145 feature films, including feature documentaries, were produced in the 27 member states of the European Union in 2008, up 112 films from 2007.

This increase fits with a trend which has seen European production figures rising continuously over the past years, coming to only a preliminary halt in 2007, and represents an all-time record high. The 2008 total splits into an estimated 878 feature fiction films and 267 feature documentaries. Overall growth was primarily driven by the strong increase in feature documentaries, 58 more than in 2007, and entirely national fiction films, which increased from 632 to 675 in 2008. International fiction co-productions remained fairly stable with a total of 203 fiction films majority co-produced by a European Union member country in 2008.

The European Audiovisual Observatory also estimates that European films achieved a provisional market share of 28.4% of total admissions in the European Union, almost matching the previous record high of 28.6% in 2007 and staying well above previous years' levels.

The enormous success of national films in many markets was largely responsible for maintaining European market share at this high level. Supported by strong results on the home market, French productions took a 12.6% share of total admissions in the European Union, up from 8.4% in 2007. Italian films contributed 3.6% to total EU admissions, followed by German films (3.5%) and UK productions - excluding those considered as inward investments - (2.2%). UK films had enjoyed an exceptionally high market share in 2007 due to the pan-European success of Mr Bean's Holiday.

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