MEDIA Salles an initiative of the MEDIA Programme of the European Union with the support of the Italian Government “The economic potential of the cinema industry in Central and Eastern European countries ” Talk by Dr Joachim Ph. Wolff Scientific advisor to MEDIA Salles’ “European Cinema Yearbook” and Chairman of The Netherlands Film Sector Research Foundation MEDIA Salles Seminar “OPENING CINEMAS IN NEW MARKETS” Cinema Expo International, 21 June 2004

This study concerns the following Central and Eastern European countries: Bulgaria Croatia Czech Republic Estonia Hungary Latvia Lithuania Poland Romania Serbia and Montenegro Slovak Republic Slovenia MEDIA Salles is an initiative of the MEDIA Programme of the European Union with the support of the Italian Government Eight of them are now Member States of the European Union. Therefore, the subject of the study is very actual.

Table 1: Population in 2002 (x 1 000)

Table 2: Admissions and Frequency per capita Average of Western European countries is about 3 ½ times higher. Hungary and Slovenia about the same frequency as Finland and the Netherlands.

Table 3: Market shares by film origin BG: figures for LT, EE, HU: new releases only. SI: Percentage of gross distribution revenues PL: Percentage of admissions Market shares of US films are an important political and economic indicator.

Table 4: Average ticket price (2002) Untill now: attention on admissions. Another picture emerges if one looks at Gross Box Office (GBO) Attention: considering the purchasing power in the countries concerned, their admission prices are not low but rather high.

Table 5: Central and Eastern Europe versus Western Europe Main indicators If the average frequencies in 2002 would have been the same in both groups, GBO in the Central and Eastern countries would have been: € (2,47:0,69) ≈ , being about 3,7 times higher then it was in If also the average ticket price would have been the same, GBO would have been: € (118,5:390,1) ≈ € , being about 7,3 times higher then it was.

This means that for instance a Western European film producer exporting to the countries concerned could potentially receive up to seven times more than he does now.