26/08/2005

The figures don’t lie. Cinema admissions in the first half of this year in the Czech Republic reached just over 4,5 million, down by almost 25 percent compared to the 6 million in the same period last year. After years of enjoying steady growth in cinema attendances and box office figures, 2005 will almost certainly be a year to forget for the Czech film distribution industry and film theatre owners.

Local experts cannot agree on what might be the reasons behind the drop. Some say that the Czechs simply follow world consumer trends, especially those from the US. Others point to the fact that, basically, no one film has made a real splash, creating sufficient impact on the market in the first six months of 2005. “I don’t want to underestimate other factors but I think that this year we are experiencing a year with no real commercial hits” argues Jan Bradac, the director of distribution company Falcon.
Bradac may have a point there. While there is a complete absence of American or European hits, it is left to the local films to carry the market. But the year’s only Czech hit so far is Filip Renc’s Roman pro zeny (“From subway with love”), a comedy which has taken over 400,000 tickets in the four months since its release and tops the tables. By comparison this number is only half of the amount achieved by Lord of the Ring: the Return of the King, the film which led in the corresponding period in 2004.

But there is a still certain optimism around and again Czech filmmakers are behind it. Jan Hrebejk’s Kraska v nesnazich (“Beauty in Trouble”), and teenage comedies Raftaci (“Rafters”) and Experti (“Experts”) are all set to be released next year and distributors believe that, with these three highly anticipated Czech features, the trend is set to improve again.