Estonia's cinema admissions rose by 11% in 2009 to 1.78 million due to the huge success of Ice Age 3 (186,000 tickets sold) and the opening of the new Cinamon multiplex in the capital city of Tallinn. All of the top 10 films were standard Hollywood hits.

Yet, the year was dismal for domestic films. No Estonian feature made it to the top 10 for the first time in seven years. The share of domestic films amounted to a miserable 2% with just 36,000 admissions. The best entry was Bank Robbery by Andrus Tuisk, which made it only to 67th place.

The number of cinema visits rose to 1.33 per capita, up from 1.2 per capita in 2008. A total of 161 films premiered theatrically in 2009.