In more good news for global Box Office figures, we’ve seen a huge upswing in the European Box Office numbers for 2022 and 2023 alike. With a significant uptick in both attendance and film grosses, it may not be a return to the coveted pre-pandemic benchmarks, but it is certainly worth paying attention to. Brandon Blake, entertainment lawyer at Blake & Wang P.A, has all the news for us.
Strong Admissions and Gross Box Office Numbers
In what amounts to a 70% upward jump in 2022, we see admissions passing the 650M mark across the UK and EU, with gross Box Office figures of over $5.5B. Most of this surge can be laid at the door of top-grossing mega-pictures like Avatar 2 and Top Gun: Maverick, but at this point, any good news is welcome. For now, that figure leaves us at 67% of admission averages for the 2017-2019 period, with about a 29% decline on the gross Box Office figures from the same time. In an uncertain market and bearing in mind the knock-on effects of pandemic pipeline shortages still very much active in 2022, however, it’s still good news.
Varying Markets
Interestingly, however, the figures are far from holistic across the major European markets. Italy continues to languish at barely half of its pre-pandemic numbers, while France has seen a robust recovery to over 80% of its pre-pandemic levels. Also intriguingly, European films are still struggling to gain real cross-market traction or even national theatrical break-outs. Other than Warner Bros’ Fantastic Beasts: The Secrets of Dumbledore, which can nominally be considered a British production, no European film has managed to sell more than 5 million tickets or make an entry into the European Top 25.
So there’s still a lot of room for growth. However, 2022 was generally seen as a sluggish Box Office year, and the 2023 slate is already looking more promising than expected. With this news to buoy it, let’s hope we see bigger and better things going forward.
Film and Television 