20.2% 14.8% 11.5% 8.3% 8% 7.5% 3.6% 3.4% 2.2% 2.2% 2% 2% 14.4% FranceUK Germany Italy Spain Russia Poland The Netherlands Sweden Belgium Austria Norway Others
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1.5. International markets
In October 2012 the European Audiovisual Observatory published for the first time a complete overview of the results of European cinema in international
markets in a report11. The survey covered the ten regions relevant for the
exploitation of European films in 2010: North America (USA/Canada), Oceania (Australia and New Zealand), South America (Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Columbia, Venezuela) and South Korea as the only Asian country.
When investigating each country separately, the European Audiovisual Observatory found audience share for European films to be between 3 and 6 percent. The most surprising result is that, in the Spanish-speaking countries of Latin America, films from Spain only ranked fourth in the list of European countries.
The European Audiovisual Observatory came to the conclusion that one single successful film can have significant effects on rankings due to the low overall percentages.
1.5.1. Low export rates – low box office takings
In 2010 almost 1,300 films were released in Europe. Of these films ten percent were also shown in cinemas internationally in the same year. A total of 228 European films were released in the ten markets investigated. Therefore, some of the new films are released internationally about one year later than in the original European country.
Just less than 20 percent of films produced annually in Europe were released in at least one country outside the EU in the last few years. There were 128
releases in the USA and only 58 in South Korea12.
According to the figures gathered by LUMIERE (database on admissions for
films released in Europe)13 the ten markets investigated here account for some
11. Martin Kanzler, Theatrical export of European films in 2010, European Audiovisual Observatory, 2012. 12. Martin Kanzler, op. cit.
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19 percent or 70.4 M of the 378 M cinema tickets sold worldwide for European films. The rest are mainly sold in Europe. However, these 70.4 M admissions in 2010 account for only about 3 percent of the total international market. In contrast, more than 20 percent of the films produced worldwide are European films. Audience numbers have therefore decreased significantly for the third year in a row. In 2009 ticket sales for European films were close to 84 M.
1.5.2. European export countries
The countries of Europe are represented to differing extents in the inter- national film market. The leading exporters of films are those in which the majority of films are produced: France, Spain, Italy, Germany and the UK. However, the number of productions sold outside the European markets is not an automatic guarantee of correspondingly high turnover and/or market share. According to the European Audiovisual Observatory there were approximately 1,100 releases of European films outside of Europe in 2010, which is equivalent to a share of 20 percent.
Equally, the number of films from a particular European country reveals little about the size of that country’s international market share. Instead, their suc- cess is largely dependent on individual films that attract large audiences and revenues.
1.5.3. Measuring national results on the international market
The European Audiovisual Observatory uses the information on purely national and majority productions of the different countries as a basis to assess the relevance of the different market results. If minority productions were also included, then either the box office takings would have to be allocated accord- ing to the national share (which is difficult to do) or the overall results would reveal market shares of over 100 percent.
As a result of using this method, the following observations include some major deviations from the information given by national agencies for film promotion. However, this does not mean that this information is incorrect or unreliable.
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1.5.4. Statistics are dominated by a few successful films
It is certainly possible that just one single film can overturn the national rank- ings. For example, Germany accounted for 24.5 percent of all admissions with 10.5 percent of international films. This was almost exclusively due to the exceptional success of Resident Evil – Afterlife, a co-production in English. In Sweden, just 2 out of a total of 455 international films – the first two films in the Millennium Trilogy – were watched by 6 percent of all viewers in 2010. In contrast, Spain had more than 8 percent of all films but only 4 percent of admis- sions. Italy had 6.5 percent of all films but only 2.4 percent of admissions. Of the 150 French films (33 percent of all European productions in non-European cinema) that were watched by 16 M viewers worldwide – i.e. outside France and outside Europe – or “only” 23 percent of all viewers according to the European Audiovisual Observatory.
In 2011 UniFrance films claimed 38 M viewers for French films on the inter- national market excluding Europe. This result is mainly due to the revenues from five films of which the three most successful alone accounted for half of all viewers. Four of these five films were filmed in English: Colombiana,
Carnage, Unknown and The Three Musketeers, the last two being minority
co-productions; the fourth of these five films being Nothing to declare. But four productions in French also managed to break the million viewer barrier outside the domestic market: Nothing to declare, Of Gods and Men, Potiche and Sarah’s key. 2012 was a record year for French cinema at international level (with 140 M viewers compared with an annual average of 70 M). Outside Europe, 75 M tickets were sold (equivalent to 53 percent of all viewers world- wide). This record was particularly due to the success of The Intouchables, The
Artist, Colombiana and Amour.
1.5.5. USA, the biggest market – France, the biggest exporter
The most important market for European films is still the USA. With an audi- ence of 39 M, the USA accounted for 55 percent of admissions to European films. The second largest market was Mexico, which also has two-digit admis- sion figures. All other countries had significantly lower figures and accounted for around 30 percent of the European film audience outside Europe. Although
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the USA is the biggest export market, European cinema does not play a signifi- cant role in US box-office takings, even though a few films are very successful. France lays claim to the most first cinema releases in the ten countries stud- ied: 150 productions or 33 percent of all European exports. On the audience front, the UK takes first place with 25 M admissions in the ten non-European countries, the equivalent of 36 percent of cinema audiences for European films in these ten countries.