19-05-2008

Czech film audiences decline in first quarter

By FNE Staff

    Film viewers in the Czech Republic dropped by nearly a half million in the first quarter of 2008, according to data released by the Association of Film Distributors (www.ufd.cz).

    According to a May 15 report by the Czech press agency CTK, there were 2.87 million tickets sold in the first quarter. Ticket revenues were also down, some €2 million (CZK51.4 million), to €11.5 million, compared with the January-March results from 2007.

    The drop followed a record year for Czech distributors, with 12,820,236 viewers, or nearly 1.3 visits per person. That marked the highest attendance since 1994, when the first commercial TV station was launched in the Czech Republic. The average ticket price peaked in February of this year, at €4.13, dropping by 3% in March to €4.00.