Cinema revenue in EU down in 2013 - 2014 looking better. For the whole of the year 2013, the gross revenue of cinemas in the European Union fell for the first time since 2005, according to the latest statistics from the European Audiovisual Observatory of the Council of Europe. In the 28 member states of the EU, this stood at around €6.29 billion, which is down 4.3% on the record year of 2012 (€6.57 billion). As for cinema attendance last year, this fell in 20 of the 28 member states of the EU, with just Italy reporting a significant increase (+6.6 million). This drop is mainly due to the decline of the major markets of Spain (-15.4 million), France (-10 million), the United Kingdom (-7 million) and Germany (-5.4 million). Non-EU countries, on the other hand, registered significant growth. With growth in attendance of more than 10.4% (or 177.1 million ticket sales in 2013), the Russian Federation has become the second-largest European market in terms of ticket sales, ahead of the United Kingdom. The gross revenue of cinemas also broke records in Turkey, where attendance rose by more than 14.8% to 50.4 million, its highest level for several decades. The Observatory's forecasts for the first quarter of 2014 are more optimistic. Provisional figures show an improvement of the situation in the EU, with a significant increase in cinema attendance compared to the first quarter of 2013. Quarterly attendance has grown strongly in three of the five major European markets (Germany, France, the United Kingdom, Italy and Spain), with, in France (+18.9%), Italy (+13%) and Spain (+8.7%), which offsets the less sharp drops seen in Germany (-6.8%) and the United Kingdom (-4.9%). These five markets, which together grew by +5.6% in the first quarter of 2014 compared to the same period of 2013, represent some 75% of total EU cinema attendance. Six other member states also saw an increase in attendance, among them the Netherlands (+4.8%), Sweden (+17.9%), Greece (+8.9%) and Slovakia (+49.5%).

Outside the EU, attendance achieved even stronger growth, with the Russian Federation and Turkey recording increases of 18.6% and 30.9% respectively in quarterly attendance year on year. (IL)