Some 800,000 tickets sold in 2024: that’s well below the number from the previous year--a drop of 19%--when over a million moviegoers were tallied. These are the findings of the from the European Audiovisual Observatory. Is it the rise of streaming platforms that accounts for this? Diminished interest in blockbusters? Whatever the case, this significant loss of momentum is part of a wider Europe-wide trend, within which Luxembourg has been hit particularly hard.
According to initial estimates from the European Audiovisual Observatory, some 841m cinema admissions were recorded in Europe in 2024, down 2% on 2023. Box-office receipts are estimated at €6.6bn.
“With figures stabilising near 2023 levels,” says the organisation in its press release, “cinema attendance appears to have settled at around 24% below pre-pandemic levels (2017–2019), suggesting that the post-pandemic rebound has run its course and that the market may have reached a new equilibrium.”
The shockwave of the Hollywood strikes
The figures are down partly because of the strikes that paralysed the North American film industry, the press release continues. These strikes--which succeeded in disrupting production, delaying releases and dragging down box-office results--were a major blow to the cinemas who rely on big-budget American films to attract audiences.
Against this backdrop, domestic productions managed to come out on top. In France, Un p'tit truc en plus topped the €10m box-office mark, while The Count of Monte Cristo shone abroad, racking up over 9m tickets sold in France and over 3m exported across 54 markets. In Bulgaria, Gundi: Legend of Love became the country’s all-time biggest cinematic success, while in Finland Stormskärs Maja recorded the biggest domestic success since the pandemic. As in 2023, Turkey (57%) and France (44%) had the highest share of admissions for national productions.
Behind the overall decline, national disparities are marked. Cinema attendance plummeted by 20% in Cyprus, the only country to do worse than Luxembourg. By contrast, Slovakia recorded an 8% increase. In absolute figures, France remains the European champion with 181m admissions, well ahead of the UK (127m), Germany (90m) and Italy (73m).
Initial trends indicate that Hollywood franchises continue to dominate the European box office, concludes the European Audiovisual Observatory. Inside Out 2, Despicable Me 4, Moana 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine were among the films with the highest box-office receipts on the continent.
This article in French.