Download "Made in Europe - Theatrical distribution of European films across the globe 2015-2024" here
What’s current state of theatrical distribution of European films?
This new edition of the Made in Europe report, just published by the European Audiovisual Observatory explores how European films performed in 2024, both domestically and internationally, in 53 markets. It also highlights key trends in major markets and regions over the last ten years. The report includes admissions data from 53 markets worldwide (36 European and 17 non-European). However, for time series analyses, only markets with continuous admissions data between 2015 and 2024 were considered (47 markets).
Key findings include:
- On an aggregate level, 2024 was a strong year for European films with cumulative admissions increasing by 24% to 311 million tickets sold worldwide. While this was the highest level registered since 2019, it was still down 16% on pre-pandemic figures.
- 193 million admissions (16% more than in 2023) were generated in the respective domestic European markets, accounting for 62% of total admissions, while 118 million admissions to European films (40% more than in 2023) were generated in non-national markets, representing 38% of total admissions.
- The two main drivers for this admissions growth were, on the one hand, the strong performance of French films in their domestic market, and a jump in export admissions to UK films on the other hand.
- Admissions to French films were mainly driven by two breakout films: Un P’tit Truc en plus and Le Comte de Monte-Cristo, both of which generated more than 11 million tickets worldwide, the vast majority of which were in their domestic market.
- Led by The Substance, The Zone of Interest, and Conclave, British films tripled their export admissions, cumulatively accounting for 43% of total European export admissions.
Other trends already highlighted in last year’s report still held true in 2024:
- The number of European films on commercial release in theatres worldwide continued to increase, with over 3 400 films in 2024
- The share of admissions to European films with reference to total worldwide admissions has remained stable, ranging between 5% and 10% over the past 10 years.
- National admissions continued to represent the lion’s share of admissions to European films, with generally 62% to 66% of admissions to European films stemming from their respective domestic markets (70% to 74% when excluding UK films).
- Most export admissions (63%) were generated by non-national European markets, while 14% were generated in Latin America, 11% in North America, 5% in Asia and 7% in the rest of the world.
- European blockbusters have not caught up with pre-pandemic levels: The number of films achieving more than one million admissions fell by 35% in 2024 (from 72 to 47 films) compared to pre-pandemic years.
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