Dutch cinemas notice nothing of the crisis - 2010 was a top year

Avatar was the best-attended film in 2010 with over 1.2 million visitors. In fifth place is New Kids: Turbo, the Dutch surprise hit. A total of 28.1 million cinema tickets were sold last year, which has never been so many in the past 30 years. The breakthrough of 3D plays an important role in this. 1 in 7 tickets sold was for a 3D film. At 15.8 per cent, the Dutch film market share was slightly lower than last year, but the number of Dutch films increased.

Wilco Wolfers, president of the Dutch Cinemato-graphics Federation, had mostly good news to report at the New Year's reception for the cinema industry at Amsterdam's Tuschinski Theatre. 2010 was simply a top year. Cinemas are not noticing anything from the crisis. Those who do notice it are the DVD sellers. The DVD has been in a downward slide for several years, although there is hope that this will be made up by rising sales of Blu-ray discs and paid viewing and downloading via the internet.
In that context, Wolfers also mentioned the unabated popularity of illegal downloading and copying and called on the government to finally come up with measures. "You are of law and order, so show it," he said.
In addition, he expressed fear that the impending cuts to culture will be at the expense of the production volume of Dutch films. Finally, he expressed that he did not understand anything about the intention to the Film Newspaper take away its relatively modest subsidy. He called this independent monthly magazine an indispensable link between films, makers and audiences.