03/04/2014 - Nymphomaniac: Volume 1 was the most successful domestic release, taking 33,000 admissions

Although the number of Romanian screens decreased from 264 to 260 during the last year, the total amount earned by cinemas increased by an optimistic 28% during the first quarter of 2014 compared to the same period in 2013. Two possible explanations for this could be the higher number of weekly releases (an average of 3.5 releases per week in 2013 versus an average of four this year) and a higher total number of films shown in cinemas over one week (an average of 42 versus 47).

The total takings rose from €8.53 million in 2013 to €11.9 million in 2014. This year's champion is Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, with 295,000 admissions, according to statistics published by cinemagia.ro, Romania's most popular film website. The Wolf was followed by 300: Rise of an Empire, which took 264,000 admissions in four weeks, also recording the best first weekend (104,000 admissions) since 2012. Depsite having been released on 27 December, the Disney animation Frozen sold the majority of its 291,000 tickets in 2014.

After a heated debate caused by a public screening interdiction received from the rating commission of the National Film Center, the two Nymphomaniac films became the most popular European releases, with 33,000 admissions for Volume 1 [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Louise Vesth
film profile] and 19,400 for Volume 2 [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile].

As for domestic releases, the first quarter of 2014 had little chance of beating the 2013 performance, with last year being dominated by the enthusiastic reception of Child's Pose [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Calin Peter Netzer
film profile], after Călin Peter Netzer's film won the Golden Bear in February 2013. Released on 8 March, the film would go on to become Romania's most popular domestic release in a decade, with 117,000 admissions. Nae Caranfil's Closer to the Moon [+see also:
trailer
film profile] was expected to be a serious contender for Netzer's record, but the period heist movie was met with relative indifference (13,000 admissions in four weeks), even though it stars big Hollywood names like Vera Farmiga and Mark Strong.