Cinema admissions down by 4.1% in 2013. According to the European Audiovisual Observatory's first estimates published on 14 February, European cinema attendance in 2013 experienced a slight slackening off. The Observatory estimates that total admissions in the European Union dropped by 4.1% to 908 million tickets sold, compared to 947 million in 2012. This would mark the second lowest admissions level in the EU since the turn of the century. More than two thirds of EU markets experienced a decline in admissions, while admission levels increased in only 8 out of the 26 EU countries for which provisional data were available. The cumulative admissions drop in the EU was, however, driven by the significant decline in four out of the five largest EU markets: Spain (-15.2 million; -16%), France (-10.8 million; -5.3%), the UK (-7 million; -4%) and Germany (-5.4 million; -4%). Only Italy withstood the general downward trend with admissions estimated to have grown by 6.6% to 106.7 million tickets sold. Apart from Italy, year-on-year growth in cinema attendance of over 1% could only be achieved in six Central and Eastern European member states, led by Bulgaria (+16.7%), Romania (+13.8%) and Lithuania (+6.8%). Outside the EU, with admissions growing by 10.5% to 173.5 million tickets sold in 2013, the Russian Federation overtook the UK as the second largest European market in terms of admissions. Box office records were also broken in Turkey, with cinema attendance growing by 14.8% to 50.4 million admissions, the highest level in the past few decades. The market share captured by national films rose in 13 countries of the EU and fell in the 10 others. The market share of US films, however, grew in 11 of the 13 markets for which data are available, from 63% - 68%. Although the market share held by its national films is falling, France still has the highest market share in this area in the EU (33% as opposed to 40% in 2012), followed by Italy (31%), Denmark (30%) and Germany (26%). In terms of net box office receipts, cinema ticket prices rose in 19 of the 25 EU markets compiling data but this did not compensate for the fall in cinema attendance for which receipts fell in 14 of the 25 markets examined. (IL/transl.fl)