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GBO in the EU and the UK grew by 70% in 2022 but fell short of pre-pandemic average by 28%
Published 10/05/23
The Observatory has published its annual cinema round-up just before Cannes.
Gross box office in the EU and the UK (which we refer to hereafter as Europe 28) grew by 70% in 2022 compared with 2021 - from EUR 3.0 billion to EUR 5.1 billion, down by 28% on pre-pandemic levels.
Top Gun: Maverick (US), Avatar: The Way of Water (US) and Minions: The Rise of Gru (US) topped the Europe 28 charts in 2022, selling 34.4 million, 30.6 and 30.2 million tickets throughout the calendar year respectively.
European films performed well and market share for European films increased year-on-year from 26.8% to 28.4% in 2022.
Film production in the EU and the UK continued to grow and reached their second highest level in recent history.
The figures in this press release are taken from the 2023 edition of FOCUS – World Film Market Trends, a report which is prepared each year for the Marché du Film. Journalists may request a PDF press copy from Alison.hindhaugh@coe.int. FOCUS is available as a free print copy to all Marché attendees from the Observatory’s stand (H1 in the Riviera/Marina section) It’s also free online for all Marché participants on the online platform. It can be purchased after the Marché from the Council of Europe bookshop.
Cinema markets in the EU and the UK in 2022 one third lower than pre-pandemic average
While most sanctions were lifted early on in the year, 2022 was still marked by many of the challenges observed during the preceding pandemic years, including hesitancy among audiences to return to cinemas, a lower number of US title releases, a weak summer slate and some remaining restrictions during the first half of the year in some countries. As a result, cinema attendance in the EU and the UK increased by 63% from 403 million tickets sold in 2021 to an estimated 657 million in 2022, representing 67% of the average pre-pandemic admission level registered between 2017 and 2019.
Similarly, GBO grew by 70% from EUR 2.99 billion to an estimated EUR 5.07 billion, accounting for 72% of the average pre-pandemic box office level. Thanks to public crisis support, the number of cinema screens continued to remain comparatively stable at cumulative level, decreasing only by about 300 screens from 32 833 screens in 2019, to 32 526 screens operational in the EU and the UK in 2022.
While admissions increased in all EU member states and the UK, there were significant differences with regard to the year-on-year growth which ranged from a 241% increase in Latvia to a 19% increase in Poland. The same is true for recovery rates, where Denmark and the Czech Republic were the leading European markets with admissions reaching 82% and 81% of the pre-pandemic average respectively. At the other end of the spectrum, cinema attendance in Italy and Greece represented only 49% and 57% of their pre-pandemic averages.
Outside the EU and the UK, the Turkish theatrical market grew strongly on a year-on-year basis (+188%) but only reached 53% of its pre-pandemic admissions level. Cinema attendance in Norway on the other hand grew by “only” +55% but reached 75% of its average pre-pandemic admissions.
Top Gun, Avatar and the Minions dominated the 2022 box office charts in Europe 28
As was already the case in 2021, US studio titles accounted for all the top 25 titles in the EU and GB in terms of admissions. Three films stood out, generating more than 30 million admissions in 2022: Top Gun: Maverick (US) topped the charts selling 34.5 million tickets in the EU and the UK. It was followed by Avatar: The Way of Water (US) which sold 30.6 million tickets and Minions: The Rise of Gru with 30.2 million admissions.
Ten other films managed to sell between 10 and 20 million tickets. Hence, a total of 13 films therefore sold more than 10 million tickets in the EU and GB in 2022, compared to five films in 2021 and 18 films in 2019. Film franchise titles once more dominated the European box office, with 15 out of the top 20 films being sequels, prequels, spin-offs or reboots, compared to 17 in 2021 and 18 in 2019.
Apart from the EUR inc production Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore (“EUR inc” refers to films produced in Europe with incoming investments from US studios), no European film featured among the top 25 titles. The theatrical film version of Downton Abbey: A New Era (GB inc / US) became the second most successful European film selling 4.1 million tickets, ahead of the French comedy sequel Qu'est-ce qu'on a tous fait au bon Dieu? (FR/BE) with 3.8 million tickets and the Northern Ireland drama Belfast (GB) (3.7 million).
European films performed well and increased market share to 28.4%
The estimated market share of European films therefore increased from 26.8% in 2021 to 28.4% in 2022, which is at the higher end of its normal range. The US market share grew from 61.8% in 2021 to an estimated 64.5%, which is still practically the same as pre-pandemic levels, while European films with incoming investment from US studios (EUR inc), led by Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore(GB inc /US), and films from the rest of the world captured 4.3% and 2.2% of admissions, respectively.
Compared to 2021, the market share captured by domestic films increased in 12 of the 25 EU markets for which 2022 data were available, rising above the 2017-2019 average in 16 territories. France registered the highest market share for national productions in the EU (41.1%), ahead of the Czech Republic (37.5%), Denmark (30%), Germany (27%) and Finland (26.9%). Outside of the EU, the market share for national films dropped to 30.1% in the UK (including US studio-backed productions), which compares to 42% in 2021 and an average 43.6% between 2017 and 2019 and represents the lowest level since 2014. The market share of UK studio backed titles plummeted from 36% to 22%, while the share of UK independent titles increased somewhat from its record low of 5.6% in 2021 to 7.8%. Türkiye saw the domestic share rising from a record low of 23.3% in 2021 to 50.8% in 2022, slightly below the levels registered in pre-pandemic years.
Film production in the EU and the UK reached second highest level in 2022
European film production seems to be fully back on its pre-pandemic growth track. An estimated total of 1 960 feature films were produced in the EU and the UK in 2022. This is 194 films more than in 2021 and represents the second highest production level registered after the record high of 2 037 feature film productions in 2019. This growth was primarily driven by an increased production of feature documentaries, which increased by 116 films to a total of 771 feature documentaries, as fiction films increased by “only” 78 films to a total of 1 189 films.
Trends differ between countries also due to different methodologies in counting productions: in those markets where film production is measured as films actually released, 2022 figures almost matched pre-pandemic figures. Whereas in markets where film production is measured e.g. in terms of films starting principal photographs or being certified, the 2022 production activity often exceeded its pre-pandemic levels.
More detailed information on European as well as international theatrical markets can be found in FOCUS 2023 World Film Market Trends prepared by the European Audiovisual Observatory for the Cannes Film Market.
Notes for Editors:
Data have been collected with the collaboration of the EFARN (European Film Agency Research Network).
All 2022 figures are provisional.
The European Audiovisual Observatory, Council of Europe
Set up in December 1992, the European Audiovisual Observatory's mission is to gather and distribute information on the audiovisual industry in Europe. The Observatory is a European public service body comprised of 40 member states and the European Union, represented by the European Commission. It operates within the legal framework of the Council of Europe and works alongside a number of partner and professional organisations from within the industry and with a network of correspondents. In addition to contributions to conferences, other major activities are the publication of a Yearbook, newsletters and reports, the compilation and management of databases and the provision of information through the Observatory's Internet site.
European Union admissions rankings (Tables 2 and 3)
The pan-European film rankings shown in tables 2 and 3 are based on data from all European Union countries and the UK for which results have been stored in the LUMIERE database as of 25th April 2023. This database on admissions to films released in Europe is available online and free-of-charge and is the result of collaboration between the European Audiovisual Observatory and various specialised national sources, primarily national film funds, as well as the MEDIA Programme of the European Union. LUMIERE provides country-by-country admission data for over 60 000 titles in distribution in Europe since 1996. Partial 2022 data for 34 European countries is now available.
Market shares (Table 4)
The market shares shown in this figure are based on an analysis of results of films released in member states of the European Union and the UK for which admissions data for individual films are made available to the European Audiovisual Observatory. In order to draw up such market shares, a single 'country of origin' must be attributed to each film, an attribution that can prove difficult in the case of international productions. In such cases the Observatory's aim is to attribute a country of origin corresponding to the source of the majority financial input and/or creative control of the project. Since 2005 the Observatory has identified specifically films that have been produced in one or more European countries (or elsewhere) with US investment by using the reference 'inc' (incoming investment) in the country of origin attribution. It should be noted, however, that the availability of further information may occasionally lead to changes in the attribution of country of origin and that the origin of a film as attributed in the LUMIERE database may not always be identical with that indicated by national sources.
The provisional data on market shares in Europe 28, i.e. the European Union and the UK, in 2022 shown in table 4 are based on the data on admissions to individual films as collected in the LUMIERE database on 25th April 2023. At this date the coverage rate of the database for admissions in 26 European Union countries and the UK for which data is available was of around 95%. Due to various gaps in data collection and delivery in various countries, coverage of 100% of admissions is currently unachievable.
Number of feature films produced in the European Union (Table 5)
Estimating the total volume of production of feature films in the European Union remains difficult, chiefly due to the risk of double counting of co-productions and to differing national methodologies for the collection of this data. Included in the total for the European Union are feature-length films intended for theatrical exploitation, excluding minority co-productions and US and foreign production in the United Kingdom. For some countries no separate data are available for feature fiction and feature documentary films.
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