03-08-2009

Romanian box office on the rise

By Iulia Blaga

    Due to multiplexes and 3D, local box-office projects growth of as much as 25% in 2009 compared to last year.

    Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs tops the Romanian 2009 chart with 246,921 tickets sold in just 4 weeks. With €1.1 million in box office, Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs holds second place overall, with Titanic still in first place. By comparison, 2008's hit, Journey to the Center of the Earth, sold 117,314 tickets in 10 weeks, and 10,000 B.C. was the hit of the first half of 2008 with 67,636 tickets.

    Ice Age 3 had a tremendous impact on the audience, due to the fact that it came in two versions - 3D dubbed in Romanian, and 2D with Romanian subtitles. The film saw a higher level of prints distributed: 21 copies..

    The admissions and box office charts show a noticeable drop off Ice Age 3. My Bloody Valentine 3D sold 80,017 tickets in 19 weeks, while Angels and Demons sold 96,746 in 10 weeks,(but comes in third place due to the revenues.

    "For 2010 we expect a 10-15% increase of tickets and 15-25% of revenues, due to the fact that three to four multiplexes will open and old cinemas will be renovated and reopened," Constantin Fugaşin from Champions Agency (www.videofil.ro) which provides statistics about the Romanian market and local box-office, told FNE. Fugaşin said that it wouldn't be a surprise if Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs would overtake Titanic which has $1,590,451 revenues in 1998.

    To date ten multiplexes have opened in Romania. They are operating together with 38 older cinema theaters, the same number as in 2008.