28/01/2026 - Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania delivered a solid performance last year, with box-office revenues continuing to grow faster than admissions and national dynamics shaping each territory’s results

Flow by Gints Zilbalodis, which proved to have cross-border appeal across the Baltic region

The theatrical markets of the three Baltic states – Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania – continued their steady post-pandemic consolidation in 2025, recording year-on-year growth in both admissions and gross box office (GBO), and confirming a path to recovery that has now been sustained for several consecutive years.

While overall attendance has not yet returned uniformly to pre-2020 highs across all territories, box-office revenues are growing at a faster pace than admissions, reflecting rising average ticket prices, a renewed audience appetite for premium releases and the strong pull of event cinema. At the same time, domestic films – particularly in Latvia and Estonia – have preserved unusually high market shares, reinforcing the structural specificity of the Baltic exhibition landscape.

Estonia closed 2025 with 2,391,888 admissions and total box-office takings of €17,368,922.66, consolidating the gains achieved in 2023-2024 and marking a decisive improvement over the pandemic-hit years of 2020 and 2021.

The top ten titles by admissions once again highlight the dominance of family-orientated animation and high-profile franchises, led by A Minecraft Movie (127,475 admissions, €901,814), which topped the annual ranking. It was followed by the domestic feature Fränk by Tõnis Pill (112,104 admissions, €750,273), confirming the continued strength of local storytelling when paired with wide theatrical exposure.

European animation also performed robustly: Gints Zilbalodis’s Flow [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Gints Zilbalodis
interview: Red Carpet @ European Film …
film profile] reached 90,498 admissions and €582,564, positioning itself among the year’s top performers and underscoring the movie’s cross-border appeal across the Baltic region. Studio sequels such as Zootopia 2 (€655,303), Avatar: Fire and Ash (€641,006) and F1 (€481,722) further reinforced the trend.

Compared with the 2020-2022 period, Estonia’s 2025 admissions represent a near-complete recovery, while box-office revenues now clearly exceed pre-pandemic levels, driven by inflation-adjusted ticket prices and higher spending per visit. The market’s structure remains highly concentrated, with the top ten titles accounting for a significant share of total admissions.

Meanwhile, Latvia stands out within the Baltic region for the exceptional resilience of its domestic production, which in 2025 accounted for approximately 25% of total admissions, an unusually high figure in the European context. Total market admissions reached around 2.1 million, confirming a year-on-year increase over 2024 and placing the Latvian exhibition sector well above its pandemic-era lows. The top ten titles by admissions reveal a balanced coexistence between US blockbusters and local crowd-pleasers.

The year’s most-attended title was Flow, which topped the ranking with 216,333 admissions and €1.2 million at the box office, making it not only Latvia’s leading film of the year, but also one of the strongest regional performers across the Baltics. It was followed by A Minecraft Movie (126,510 admissions, €837,796) and the local sports drama Escape Net by Dzintars Dreibergs (124,072 admissions, €740,280).

Latvian productions such as Red Code Blue by Oskars Rupenheits and Parent’s Meeting by Marta Elīna Martinsone further strengthened the domestic share, while international franchises (Zootopia 2, Avatar: Fire and Ash, How to Train Your Dragon) maintained their role as revenue stabilisers.

In year-on-year terms, Latvia’s box-office growth has consistently outpaced admissions growth since 2022, reflecting a broader regional trend. Compared with 2020-2021, when theatrical attendance dropped sharply, 2025 revenues show a clear structural rebound, with local cinema emerging as a key pillar of audience engagement.

Next, Lithuania recorded a solid box-office performance in 2025, with total gross revenues reaching €23,633,318 and admissions standing at 3,565,838, confirming a further step forward in the market’s post-pandemic recovery. Compared with 2024, when the market generated €23.53 million from 3.64 million admissions, revenues grew marginally while attendance stabilised at a high level, reinforcing the trend observed since 2022.

The Lithuanian theatrical landscape in 2025 was characterised by the strong dominance of US productions, which accounted for 60.6% of total box-office revenues and 60.2% of admissions, while European films (excluding national titles) generated 14.6% of revenues and 16.7% of admissions. Notably, domestic productions captured a robust 21.9% share of the box office and 20% of admissions, underscoring the sustained appeal of local cinema within a market otherwise heavily driven by international franchises.

In absolute terms, Lithuanian films grossed €5.18 million from 711,815 admissions, a performance achieved with 39 national releases during the year. By comparison, US titles generated €14.32 million from 2.15 million admissions, while European non-national films reached €3.46 million from 596,879 tickets sold.

The top-performing title of the year was the local hit The Southern Chronicles [+see also:
film review
interview: Ignas Miškinis
film profile] by Ignas Miškinis, which was number one in the annual ranking with €3.14 million at the box office and 412,521 admissions, significantly outperforming all other releases and emerging as a genuine national phenomenon. Two more domestic comedies performed particularly well – namely, ReEmigrantai 2 by Kestutis Gudavicius, which grossed €659,542 from 88,154 admissions, as well as Legendinės legendos. FELICITÀ by Aistis Mickevicius and Ineta Stasiulyte, which earned €466,897 through 65,527 admissions. The “usual US suspects” ranked from second to sixth, respectively – A Minecraft Movie (€1,242,209), Avatar: Fire and Ash (€1,089,985), Zootopia 2 (€923,000), F1 (€822,899) and Lilo & Stitch (€667,777).

From a longer-term perspective, Lithuania’s 2020-2025 trajectory highlights a clear structural recovery. After dropping to €8.48 million in revenues and 1.53 million admissions in 2020, the market rebounded sharply in 2022 and has since consolidated its position. While admissions in 2025 remain slightly below the 2024 peak, total revenues now clearly exceed pre-pandemic levels, reflecting rising average ticket prices and a shift towards fewer but higher-value cinema visits.

Entering 2026, the Baltic theatrical sector appears stable, resilient and structurally transformed. While admissions growth may remain incremental, box-office revenues are likely to continue expanding, supported by pricing strategies and a steady flow of international tentpoles. Crucially, the sustained presence of domestic films in the annual rankings suggests that local production remains a vital driver of audience loyalty, positioning the Baltics as small but strategically robust markets within the European exhibition ecosystem.