Steady, steady, steady. That refrain sounded again and again at the announcement of the annual figures of the cinema industry at the New Year meeting in Tuschinski. Hajo Binsbergen, vice-chairman of the Dutch Film Distributors' Association, informed that in 2014, with the high number of 30.8 million visitors, the passage to the cinema was almost the same as 2013. The Dutch market share was satisfactory with again over 20% of the box office, and almost all other figures were also little different from those in 2013. 2014 is another banner year. Great, or are there still caveats to be made?
(The 2014 key figures are here downloadable. Various top lists can here be downloaded).
1. The top films
This is the top 10 of all films in 2014, by attendance.
1. Gooic Women 2 (1,182,335)
2. The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies (3D) (833,448)
3. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay part 1 (673,659)
4. The Wolf of Wall Street (670,755)
5. Rio 2 (3D) (580,222)
6. Tuscan wedding (557,200)
7. How to tame a dragon 2 (3D) (529,575)
8. Maze Runner (508,679)
9. Soof (470,719)
10. 22 Jump Street (448,811)
And these are the five best-attended Dutch films:
1. Gooic Women 2
2. Tuscan wedding
3. Soof
4. Take my heart
5. Heart Street
Interestingly, the most successful Dutch titles are all romantic comedies, closely followed by youth and family films which, led by Mees Kees op de planken, occupied places 6 to 12 this year. A bit one-sided, though.
2. Americans
Apart from five Dutch titles, the top 20 consists entirely of US product, which is nothing new, by the way. Incidentally, at 66%, the US share of total cinema receipts was slightly later than 2013's 70%. The share of the top 20 is also shrinking slightly, indicating more dispersion. Positive, I would say.
3. Repeat success
Just as Dutch cinema relies on romcoms and youth films, US studios rely on blockbusters and sequels. Almost half of the titles in the top 20 build on previous success. People like to see what they already know. Conservative, in other words.
4. Ceiling in cinema?
A look at cinema attendance over the past decade shows that the steady rise comes to an abrupt halt in 2011. Despite new construction and improvement of theatres (major cause of increasing attendance) continuing unabated. Does the rule more canvases-more audience no longer apply? It strongly suggests that the market is saturated, which will no doubt cause some investors some concern.
5. China is the new market
That cinema sales in the Netherlands are holding up is not bad at all internationally. On the contrary, America experienced a lean year with a drop in receipts of over 5%. In China, on the other hand, sales exploded with an increase of 36%. Globally, this is the engine of growth, including for Hollywood films. So we can expect US studios to increasingly tailor their product to that market. Even greater emphasis on safe blockbusters and superheroes? Even more action infernos and comedies with child men? Not an enticing prospect.
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