10/04/2009

Slovenia's box office in 2008 saw a slight rise in admissions, but also a slight decline in revenues compared to 2007. The main reason for this is 2007's highest grosser: local director Marko Nabersnik's Rooster's Breakfast, which sold 122,431 tickets at a lower average admission price, making €478,509.

Last year's box office champion is Mamma Mia! [+see also:
trailer
film profile] with 147,721 admissions and €585,348. Rooster's Breakfast is the highest-grossing Slovenian film of 2008 as well, with 60,622 admissions and €237,194, while the best placed new release was Metod Pevec's Estrellita [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Danijel Hočevar
interview: Metod Pevec
interview: Nerina Kocjančič
film profile], selling 12,220 tickets to gross €44,739.

On the other hand, the winner of the Best Slovenian Film award at the national festival in Portoroz, Landscape No. 2 [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Vinko Moderndorfer, sold only 6,331 admissions and grossed €24,208.

The market share of US films rose from 81.64% to 84.48%, while that of European films decreased, from 12.94% to 8.16%.

Production rose significantly over the previous year, mostly due to political turbulence in 2007 that shook Slovenian production companies and festivals. After only five films two years ago, and changes at Slovenia's Ministry of Culture after last year's elections, in 2008 12 majority feature films were made (of which three were documentaries) and three minority co-productions.

Two new multiplexes and several theaters opened, nearly doubling the number of screens from 2007's 60 to 110. As for festivals, it is expected that Izola Cinema Island Film Festival, one of the most important for non-US films in the region, will resume in September 2009, after pausing last year's break caused by the problematic situation in Slovenia's audiovisual sector.