Slight rise in cinema attendance in 2014. - On 10 February, the European Audiovisual Observatory published its first estimates for European cinema attendance in 2014. Overall, the Observatory estimates that total admissions in the European Union increased marginally by 0.6% to 911 million tickets sold, around 5.4 million more than in 2013 (906 million). The small increase was primarily ensured by a strong year-on-year performance in France and Spain which kept EU admissions from continuing their downward trend of recent years. As in 2013, two thirds of EU markets experienced a decline in cinema attendance, while admission levels increased in only nine out of the 27 EU states for which provisional data were available. The year-on-year increase was most pronounced in France (+14.8 million, +7.7%) and Spain (+10.5 million, +13.6%) with cinema attendance in both markets recovering from exceptionally weak results in 2013. French admissions growth was driven by the success of national films, which reached their highest admission levels in 30 years. For Spain, the increase in cinema attendance to 87.4 million marks the temporary end of a long downward trend with admissions hitting a record low of 77 million in 2013. Apart from France and Spain, year-on-year growth in cinema attendance was only achieved in six member states: Poland (+11.2%), the Slovak Republic (+10.8%), Romania (+10.5%), Hungary (+8.4%), the Czech Republic (+4.5%) and Belgium (+0.8%). The most significant drops in admissions were registered in Germany (down 8 million; -6.1%), the UK (-8 million; -4.9%) and Italy (-6.5 million; -6.1%). Outside the EU, the Russian Federation confirmed its position as the second largest European market in terms of admissions with 175 million tickets sold, a 1% decrease on 2013. Turkey continued its impressive growth trend of recent years with admissions jumping to 61.4 million, up 22% from 2013 and the highest level in the past few decades. (Isabelle Lamberty)