The International Union of Cinemas (UNIC), which represents European cinema operators and trade associations, has released 2024 box office and admissions data for its 39 territories. The figures represent UNIC’s first assessment of European cinemas\u2019 performance last year, based on preliminary estimates. Detailed final data will be released in June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the Hollywood strikes had a lingering impact in the first half of the year, UNIC estimates that the
overall picture for European cinemas remained almost on a par with 2023. Despite the tough context, admissions decreased by 1.4%, while box office fell only 0.3% across UNIC territories. Total admissions reached over 975.5 million, with box office exceeding \u20ac7.2 billion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the strikes hit U.S. titles especially, European operators were confident audiences would return once the slate strengthened. Indeed, 2024 admissions surpassed the previous year in France, U..K, Ireland, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Turkey and Ukraine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Local productions played a pivotal role in 2024\u2019s overall success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Bulgaria saw box office revenue increase by 10.8%, with admissions up 4.1%, thanks to a higher number of releases and new cinema openings. The standout success was Gundi: Legend of Love<\/em>, about the country\u2019s legendary footballer Georgi Asparuhov. The film contributed to a record-breaking 24.4% market share for national titles\u2014three times higher than in 2023. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Lithuania also experienced significant growth, with box office revenue rising 9.8% and admissions increasing 5.8%. Two local productions, Irklais per Atlant\u0105<\/em>, a documentary about Aurimas Valujavicius and his solo crossing of the Atlantic in a rowing boat, and comedy Milijonieriaus palikimas<\/em>, ranked third and fourth respectively in the country\u2019s top ten for 2024, while market share for national titles jumped to 20.2% from 14.6% the previous year. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In Poland, along with a rise in box office revenue, national market share increased by over 4 percentage points to 23%, with three home-grown films in the top titles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Finland experienced an unprecedented 31.3% national market share, with over 2 million admissions for local films, the highest level since 2017. Myrskyluodon Maija<\/em> was its top film of the year, with 470,000 admissions, surpassing Disney\u2019s Inside Out 2<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In Spain national market share rose to 19%\u2014two points higher than in 2023\u2014thanks to domestic hits such as Padre no hay m\u00e1s que uno 4<\/em>, thriller La Infiltrada<\/em> and children\u2019s film Buffalo Kids<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n France recorded 181.3 million admissions, up nearly 1 million compared with 2023. The market was propelled by domestic hits Un P’tit Truc En Plus<\/em>, Le Comte de Monte-Cristo<\/em> and L\u2019Amour Ouf,<\/em> which collectively sold over 25 million tickets, breaking a decade-long record. Ten national films surpassed 1 million admissions, including the biopic Monsieur Aznavour<\/em> (2 million), the award-winning auteur musical Emilia P\u00e9rez<\/em> (1.07 million) and family film Le Dernier Jaguar<\/em> (1 million). The market share for French-made films reached 44.4%, one of its highest levels ever. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The U.K. maintained strong box office revenue, surpassing \u00a3978 million, while admissions grew 2.3%. November and December saw particularly strong growth, with admissions up 77% and 36% respectively year-on-year, thanks to hits including Wicked<\/em>, Mufasa: The Lion King<\/em>, Moana 2 <\/em>and Sonic the Hedgehog 3<\/em>, as well as British co-productions Paddington in Peru<\/em> and Conclave<\/em>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Italy reported \u20ac494 million in box office revenue, selling 69.7 million tickets. Summer 2024 was the best in Italy\u2019s box office history, exceeding the previous year\u2019s record, while Christmas admissions surged 28%, with Italian films accounting for 45% of tickets sold in the festive period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A key highlight across the EMEA region was Disney\u2019s Inside Out 2<\/em>, the highest-grossing animated film National Cinema Days once again achieved significant success across Europe, bringing in huge Commenting on the figures, UNIC CEO Laura Houlgatte said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cBoth local hits and U.S. blockbusters played a crucial role in 2024, while cinema operators across Europe continued to invest in the best experience for their audiences. These two ingredients\u2014a great film and a great experience\u2014are the key to cinematic success. Our message is clear: continue to bring quality, diverse and well-marketed films to the Big Screen and the audiences will follow.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n Gower Street Analytics estimates that the 2025 global box office will grow by $2.5 billion to $33 billion, The International Union of Cinemas (UNIC), which represents European cinema operators and trade associations, has released 2024 box office and admissions data for its 39 territories. The figures represent UNIC’s first assessment of European cinemas\u2019 performance last year, based on preliminary estimates. Detailed final data will be released in June. While the Hollywood strikes had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":34,"featured_media":21618,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"apple_news_api_created_at":"2025-02-12T16:17:50Z","apple_news_api_id":"000800c4-60b3-4075-a8f8-0ff40515b1cb","apple_news_api_modified_at":"2025-02-12T16:18:03Z","apple_news_api_revision":"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA==","apple_news_api_share_url":"https:\/\/apple.news\/AAAgAxGCzQHWo-A_0BRWxyw","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":["https:\/\/news-api.apple.com\/sections\/dfac7ee9-acf9-449e-b214-8115882b64d6"],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[111],"class_list":["post-37184","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-exhibition-news","tag-unic"],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boxofficepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37184","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boxofficepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boxofficepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boxofficepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/34"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boxofficepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37184"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.boxofficepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37184\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boxofficepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.boxofficepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37184"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boxofficepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37184"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.boxofficepro.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37184"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}International hits<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
of all time and fastest to surpass the $1-billion benchmark globally, a feat it accomplished in just 19 days. In Italy the film became the third highest-grossing non-local release of the decade within 11 days, contributing two-thirds of June\u2019s box office. Universal\u2019s Despicable Me 4 <\/em>and Disney\u2019s Deadpool & Wolverine<\/em> also boosted summer admissions across the continent, before the second half of 2024 picked up with a more robust release calendar that saw multiple hits including Paramount\u2019s Gladiator II,<\/em> Warner Bros\u2019 Wicked<\/em>, Disney\u2019s Moana 2<\/em> and Sony\u2019s Venom: The Last Dance<\/em>. These titles helped bring the EMEA region back to pre-pandemic box office levels in the fourth quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\nCinema Days<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
audiences. France’s La F\u00eate du Cin\u00e9ma attracted 4.65 million cinema-goers in its 39th year, 50% above
2023, the best-attended edition since its creation in 1985. Italy’s Cinema in Festa and Spain’s Fiesta del Cine proved very popular, with nearly 1.7 million and over 2.2 million admissions respectively, spread across two events in 2024. Germany\u2019s Kinofest attracted 1.2 million visitors in two days in over 700 cinemas, making it the best-attended cinema weekend to date. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
with EMEA estimated to reach $9.1 billion<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"