A press release issued by the Council of Europe’s European Audiovisual Observatory on the eve of the 58th International Cannes Film Festival, announced that for the second time since 1990, cinema attendance in the European Union passed the billion milestone in 2004. Good news for production companies, but what does it mean for the European film industry?
The European film industry is not an entity in its own right; rather it is the sum of creative activity taking place within the 25 member states of the European Union. The health of the national industries that combine to form the European Film Industry varies greatly from country to country. One useful way of measuring success is to look at the market share achieved by each country in its domestic market, the European market and beyond. Analysis such has has been conducted by the European Audiovisual Observatory, reveals that, in spite of isolated success stories, not much has changed in the fortunes of European cinema in the last ten years.
