Press Release Strasbourg, 22 March 2004

Cinema attendance in the European Union down an estimated 5% in 2003.

Provisional data on cinema admissions in 2003 are now available for a number of key European Union markets.  Declines in attendance were reported in all the big five markets (France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom).  Of these, the steepest drop was registered in Germany (-9.1%).  Both the Spanish and the Italian markets resisted somewhat better, with a drop of 3% in the number of cinema tickets sold in Spain and a fall of around 2% in Italy.

Table 1: Admissions to cinemas in the European Union  (1999 - 2003)
In millions

	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003 prov.	2003/2002	Source
Denmark	10,92	10,69	11,92	12,91	12,50	-3,2%	DFI
France	153,57	165,53	187,06	184,46	174,19	-5,6%	CNC
Germany	149,00	152,50	177,90	163,90	149,00	-9,1%	FFA
Ireland	12,45	14,89	15,94	17,30	17,40	0,6%	CSA
Italy	103,48	103,37	109,97	111,49	109,33	-1,9%	SIAE/ANICA
Spain	131,35	135,39	146,81	140,72	136,55	-3,0%	ICAA
Sweden	15,98	16,98	18,10	18,30	18,18	-0,7%	SFI
United Kingdom	139,06	142,51	155,91	175,90	167,30	-4,9%	CAA
Total EU15 (estimate)	809,7	843,2	931,1	936,4	890,5	-4,9%	OBS
New Member States as of 01/05/2004
Estonia	0,87	1,08	1,30	1,56	1,27	-18,2%	SSO/EFSA
Latvia	1,38	1,46	1,15	1,07	1,09	1,7%	NFC
Lithuania	1,78	2,10	1,76	1,39	1,44	3,3%	Ministry of Culture
Poland	26,62	18,70	26,20	25,90	22,30	-13,9%	Apropos Info.

Data in italics are estimated or provisory

Preliminary results are also available for a number of the countries that will join the European Union in May 2004. Provisional data for Poland show that attendance declined by 13.9% in 2003.  The Estonian market also fell back significantly (-18.2%) after a very good year in 2002.  However the two other Baltic markets, Latvia and Lithuania, both showed increases in attendance, with the 3.3% increase registered in Lithuania and the 1.7% increase in Latvia reversing the downward trend witnessed in both countries since 2000.

Table 2: Market shares for national films (2001-2003)
Based on market share of admissions, except for the United Kingdom and Italy where based on gross box office

	2001	2002	2003 prov.	Sources
Estonia	3,6%	10,7%	9,7%	EFSA
Denmark	30,5%	27,1%	25,0%	DFI
France	41,4%	35,0%	34,8%	CNC
Germany	18,4%	11,9%	17,5%	FFA
Italy	19,4%	22,2%	21,8%	ANICA/Cinetel
Poland	40,0%	17,8%	11,2%	Apropos Info
Spain	17,9%	13,5%	15,8%	ICAA
Sweden	23,5%	16,8%	19,9%	SFI
United Kingdom	13,1%	15,6%	11,9%	Screen Finance

Data in italics are estimated or provisory

Table 2 shows the market shares for national films for the countries for which data are at present available.  German films in particular were very successful at the local box office in 2003, achieving a national market share of 17.5%.  Good Bye Lenin at 6.4 millions tickets sold was the most successful of the five local films that registered more than 1 million admissions.  Spanish and Swedish films also had a relatively good year, earning market shares of 15.8% and 19.9% respectively.  However in all three of these countries these results, though an improvement on 2002, still fell short of the scores registered in 2001 (18.4% in Germany, 17.9% in Spain and 23.5% in Sweden).  Market share for national films in France (34.8%) and Italy (21.8%) remained stable, while shares in Estonia, Denmark, and the United Kingdom all fell back.  At an estimated 11.2%, market share for national films in Poland dropped for the third year in succession. In Estonia, the 9.7% share registered for locally-produced films was only 1% less than the excellent result recorded in 2002.

The European Audiovisual Observatory will publish a more detailed press release on European film market trends in early May 2004 and, as every year, a new FOCUS: World Film Market Trends guide will appear in collaboration with the Cannes Film Market. Volume 3 of the Observatory's Yearbook, with an in-depth analysis of European film and video markets, will appear in September 2004.

For further information, please contact:

• Alison Hindhaugh, Press Officer - Tel.: 00 33 (0)3 88 14 44 10 - E-mail : Alison.HINDHAUGH@coe.int

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The European Audiovisual Observatory

Set up in December 1992, the European Audiovisual Observatory's goal is to gather and distribute information on the audiovisual industry in Europe. The Observatory is a European public service body comprised of 35 member states and the European Community. It operates within the legal framework of the Council of Europe and it works alongside a number of partner organisations, professional organisations from within the industry and a network of correspondents. In addition to its contribution in conferences other major activities are the publication of statistics and newsletters, compilation of databases and information readily available on the web portal.