First half of 2012 brings 4.9% increase on 2011

by Stefan Dobroiu

13/08/2012 - More cinemas and more films released locally are making a change to the Romanian box office landscape - compared with 2011, there have been almost 5% more admissions in the first half of 2012. The total number in the first 26 weeks of the year (January 2nd - July 1st) amounted to 3,714,515, while the number for the same period of time of the previous year was only 3,446,866, according to data released by the local distributors.

The increase is bigger in terms of actual box office, thanks to more 3D releases and their bigger ticket prices: 7.76% on 2011. The entire number of releases of 2012 brought €15.17m, compared with €14.4m during the first half of the previous year.

Marvel's The Avengers conquered the entire world and Romania made no exception: released on May 5th, Joss Whedon's blockbuster had the best debut of the year in Romania, and it reached 200,000 admissions by the end of June. It still is the year's best received film, followed by Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted, with 158,313 admissions, and Men in Black III, with 137,055 admissions.

As for domestic releases, things are not as good. The champion so far is the moderately popular (and generally panned by critics) The Bride Was Stolen (pictured), with 17,883 admissions, followed by Romania's Last Corrupt Man, Sergiu Nicolaescu's sequel to Poker, with 13,195 admissions. Both films are produced by MediaPro Pictures. Silviu Purcarete's Somewhere in Palilula [trailer], produced by Libra Film, reached 13,237 admissions, while Radu Jude's Everybody in Our Family [trailer, film focus], included in the Berlinale's Panorama sidebar, stopped at 6,287 admissions.