Montenegrin cinemas record the lowest attendance in Europe, but also the least interest of the audience when it comes to domestic films, according to the data announced by the European Audiovisual Observatory of the Council of Europe, ahead of the International Film Festival in Berlin, Berlinale.
Attendance at the majority of national productions in cinema halls amounted to only 0,1 percent in 2022, or about 0,5 percent in 2023.
The European Audiovisual Observatory, based in Strasbourg, is part of the Council of Europe and provides data and analysis on the cinema, television and VOD (video on demand) industries in Europe, from an economic and legal point of view. Montenegro is one of the Observatory's member states and thus is covered in the statistical report.
"The lowest share of visits when it comes to national films was recorded in Ireland 2,8 percent, Portugal 2,1 percent, Bosnia and Herzegovina two percent and in Montenegro 0,5 percent during 2023," the announcement states.
The reason for this may be partly the small number of mostly Montenegrin productions, as well as their distribution in cinemas in 2022 and 2023, i.e. only seven days of showing those films that were Montenegrin candidates for the Oscar - "Laurel Elegy". Dušana Kasalica, i.e. "Sirin" Senad Šahmanović.
"The figures on the share of domestic films in the total attendance at cinemas in 2023, although low, still point to a significant growth compared to 2022. In addition, numerous European countries that have a much more developed cinematography than Montenegrin and that at the same time collect huge revenues from foreign filming, such as Portugal, Ireland and Hungary, also record a low share of domestic films in the total attendance at cinemas", they stated in their official answers to the News from Filmsko of the Center of Montenegro (FCCG) as a partner organization of the European Audiovisual Observatory.
Similar to 2022, in Turkey and France compared to the rest of Europe, national productions are watched the most, with 46,3 and 39,8 percent of the total share of visits. An interesting fact is that the United Kingdom follows with 37 percent of visits to its own production, where independent films make up four percent of box office revenue. It is followed by Albania (31,2 percent), Norway (26,9) and Italy (25,9).
Published analysis and preliminary statistics with the title "Toward a new normality? Cinema attendance in Europe continues to grow, by 18 percent in 2023, although the high levels from before the pandemic are still far away" shows a significant increase in the total number of tickets sold during 2023 (0,3 million) compared to 2022 (0,2, 31 million), that is, 95 percent more, and the percentage of recovery is more than XNUMX percent. The FCCG looks at that with optimism.
"What we can already point out when it comes to the data for Montenegro for 2023 is the extraordinary growth of cinema tickets sold by 31 percent compared to 2022, which puts Montenegro in a high fifth place in Europe," they said. News.
This is the result, they add, of the digitalization project of movie theaters throughout Montenegro, which the Film Center is implementing in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and Media and local governments, and which has revitalized the cinema industry in numerous Montenegrin cities.
A growing trend in the number of cinema tickets sold in 2023 was recorded in most territories for which data were available, the European Audiovisual Observatory said, highlighting significant differences between individual countries.
"The year-on-year growth in attendance in Ukraine (60,1 percent), Italy (59,3), Albania (42 percent) and Greece (34,8) is particularly noteworthy. Of the 34 European countries with available data, only the Czech Republic and Turkey recorded a decline in cinema visits, by 1,2 and 17,9 percent respectively... Early estimates suggest that Georgia and Bosnia and Herzegovina are the only European countries to surpass the level in 2023 attendance, which was before the pandemic, by 17,2 and 13,3 percent, respectively. On the contrary, Turkey, Ukraine and Sweden stand out as the only countries where the attendance rate still lags by more than 30 percent compared to the 2017-2019 average," the announcement reads.
Although they believe it is too early to draw conclusions, the data shows that American blockbuster titles such as "Barbie", "Oppenheimer" and "The Super Mario Bros. Movie" dominated the European box office
According to initial analysis compiled by the European Audiovisual Observatory, cinema attendance in wider Europe (in the context of this report, Europe is defined as the member states of the Council of Europe, excluding Azerbaijan) will increase to approximately 859 million in 2023. This reflects a positive year-on-year growth of 18,1 percent, which means an increase of 131,8 million tickets compared to 2022.
"These figures, although encouraging, are still below the average that was valid before the pandemic, which was about 1,11 billion annual visits recorded between 2017 and 2019. Thus, the decrease in percentage amounts to 22,9 percent. Similarly, in the European Union and the United Kingdom (EU27+UK), the number of visits increased to an estimated 784,7 million in 2023, representing an increase of 128,9 million tickets compared to the previous year, or a remarkable growth of 19,7 .20,1 percent compared to the previous year. In this case, the number of visits is lower by XNUMX percent compared to the averages before the pandemic", according to the statement published on the eve of the Berlin Film Festival.
In absolute numbers, France retained the position of European leader in this sphere with 180,8 million tickets sold, followed by Great Britain 123,6, Germany 95,7 and Spain 76,2 million, the data show.
Overall attendance at European cinemas is 18 percent higher in 2023 compared to the previous year, but the high percentages from before the pandemic are still unattainable, they conclude.
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