STRASBOURG: Cinema admissions reached record levels in Poland, Romania and the Czech Republic, but total admissions in the EU decreased in 2018, according to first estimates by the European Audiovisual Observatory.
Admissions grew to record levels in Poland (+3.1 million, +5.5%), Romania (+0.6 million, +4.5%) and the Czech Republic (+1.1 million, +7.3%).
Total admissions in the European Union decreased by 3.0% to 955 million, after three years of above average levels. This is the fourth lowest level registered in the EU since 2009.
Poland is ranked 3rd among the countries with the highest national market share among EU markets with 33.1%, after the UK and France, and ahead of Denmark, Lithuania (27.5%), Finland, Germany, the Czech Republic (23.3%), Italy and Latvia (22.1%).
According to the report, the first available figures seem to suggest that the drop in overall admissions was largely caused by a year-on-year decline in admissions for US films.