14/01/2011

Despite the recent success of local titles abroad, Greek films suffered a 2.6% drop in market share in 2010, to go along with the 8% drop in general admissions. This comes after a 7% drop in 2009, despite a general admissions rise of 30% that year, and marks a trend of an almost 10% drop in the last two years.

Moreover, total earnings for Greek films dropped by a bombastic 26.5%, accounting for only 1.25 million tickets of the overall 12.4 million. Local blockbusters The Island by Christos Dimas and the critically shunned I Love Karditsa by Stratos Markidis brought in most of that figure by earning 544,000 and 355,000 admissions respectively.

Avatar was crowned box office king, garnering nearly 940,000 viewers – almost double the amount of The Island, the year’s second-best grosser. Inception came in third with 421,000, while Clash of the Titans and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 [+see also:
trailer
film profile] rounded out the top five with 377,500 and 374,5000 admissions respectively.

Market flooder Odeon claimed the top spot among distributors, earning 4.1 million admissions from 81 titles, while last year’s third place distributor, Village Films, climbed to second place and a 63% rise, with 3.4 million admissions from 38 films. Village Films virtually monopolized the top 10, with six titles, as opposed to Odeon’s three.

Last year’s top earner Audio Visual Entertainment fell to third place with a dramatic 52% drop, with only 2.1 million tickets and none of its 30 titles in the top 10. Boutique major UIP dropped 20% to 1.6 million admissions from 18 titles, and Shutter Island making it to number seven on the top 10 charts.

Having charmed Disney’s distribution rights away from Audio Visual, former indie distributor Feelgood Entertainment (see interview with company head Irini Souganidou) is expected to make a rise in 2011, though for 2010 it had to make due with less that 100,000 tickets from 10 titles.