14/02/2007

After a 2005 that was relatively negative almost everywhere throughout the world, 2006 was a better year for European exhibitors, although not in all countries. This is what emerges from the newest version of the European Cinema Yearbook, which gathers and analyses date from the 29 European countries and will be presented tomorrow at the Berlinale.

From the EU data available so far, on 24 territories, admissions rose an average of 3.4%, from 877.7m to 907.6m.

The 17 countries of Western Europe that published their data register an average increase in the number of admissions of approximately 2.6%. This is a good sign for the future, even if it did not meet expectations created in the first semester, when various territories recorded a double-digit rise. Nevertheless, there was an improvement – from 843.9m to 865.8m admissions – to which two of the five largest European markets contributed.

France is in the lead with over 188m admissions (+8.2% with respect to 2005) and its second best results since 1984, followed by Germany, which saw audience totals rise 7.4% compared to 2005. However, despite an increase of over 9m filmgoers, the German market cannot absorb the heavy drop recorded between 2004 and 2005. The total of 136.7m admissions is still lower than the average of this decade (over 150m).

Albeit slowly, a third large market is also growing – Italy. Estimates of screens operating at least 60 days per year show an average annual increase of 1.7% in the country, after a first semester that recorded an increase of over 10%.

Other smaller markets also on the rise include Finland (with estimates of +12%), Austria (+10.6%), the Netherlands (+9.1%), Ireland (+8.9%), Belgium (+8.7%), Switzerland (+8,5%), Luxembourg (+8.1%), Norway (+5.5%), Sweden (+4.6%), Denmark (+2.6%) and Greece (+2.4%).

Liechtenstein, however, went against the trend (with -3.8%), as did two of the other largest markets, with an even greater drop: the UK and Spain, both sharing a decrease of 4.9% over 2005.

While the former, despite losing 8m admissions, achieved results in keeping with those of the early part of the decade, Spain, losing almost 6m cinemagoers, dropped to 121.4m, it’s most modest results since 1998. For the second year in a row the number of multiplexes also decreased in Spain, for a total loss of over 200 screens in the past two years. The country previously enjoyed a period of uninterrupted growth from 1990 to 2004.

Central and Eastern Europe and the Mediterranean countries obtained decidedly more gratifying results overall: the 12 countries whose data is known recorded a 17.6% rise in admissions, with the numbers of filmgoers rising from 90.2m to 106m. However, the generalised trends do not apply fully here either, as individual territories experienced highly diverse situations; for example, the growth in Slovenia (+10.9%) and the Czech Republic (+8.7%).

Above average results were recorded for large markets such as Poland (+28.2%), which recovered almost all of the admissions lost in 2005, and Turkey (+26.3%), as well as smaller territories such as Slovakia (+55.7%), Estonia (+40.1%) and Latvia (+22.7%).

Decreases were recorded, however, in Serbia and Montenegro (-36.7%) and, to a lesser degree, in Romania (-4.6%), Hungary (-3.8%), Bulgaria (-2.5%) and Cyprus (-1.1%).