The International Union of Cinemas (UNIC), which represents European cinema operators and trade associations, has today released 2024 box office and admissions data for its 39 territories. The figures are the first assessment of European cinemas’ performance last year, based on preliminary estimates. Detailed final data will be released in June.
While the Hollywood strikes had a lingering impact in the first half of the year, UNIC estimates that the overall picture for European cinemas remained almost on a par with 2023.
Despite the tough context, admissions decreased by 1.4%, while box office fell only 0.3% across UNIC territories. Total admissions reached over 975.5 million, with box office exceeding €7.2 billion.
While the strikes hit US titles especially, European operators were confident audiences would return once the slate strengthened. Indeed, 2024 admissions surpassed the previous year in France, UK, Ireland, Bulgaria, Greece, Albania, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia, Turkey and Ukraine.
National titles’ impactLocal productions played a pivotal role in 2024’s overall success.
Bulgaria saw box office revenue increase by 10.8%, with admissions up 4.1%, thanks to a higher number of releases and new cinema openings. The standout success was
Gundi: Legend of Love, about the country’s legendary footballer Georgi Asparuhov. The film contributed to a record-breaking 24.4% market share for national titles – three times higher than in 2023.
Lithuania also experienced significant growth, with box office revenue rising 9.8% and admissions increasing 5.8%. Two local productions,
Irklais per Atlantą, a documentary about Aurimas Valujavicius and his solo crossing of the Atlantic in a rowing boat, and comedy
Milijonieriaus palikimas, ranked third and fourth respectively in the country’s top ten for 2024, while market share for national titles jumped to 20.2% from 14.6% the previous year.
In Poland, along with a rise in box office revenue, national market share increased by over 4 percentage points to 23%, with three home-grown films in the top titles.
Finland experienced an unprecedented 31.3% national market share, with over 2 million admissions for local films, the highest level since 2017.
Myrskyluodon Maija was its top film of the year, with 470,000 admissions, surpassing Disney’s
Inside Out 2.
In Spain national market share rose to 19% – two points higher than in 2023 – with domestic hits such as
Padre no hay más que uno 4, thriller
La Infiltrada and children’s film
Buffalo Kids.
France recorded 181.3 million admissions, up nearly 1 million compared with 2023. The market was propelled by domestic hits
Un P'tit Truc En Plus,
Le Comte de Monte-Cristo and
L’Amour Ouf, which collectively sold over 25 million tickets, breaking a decade-long record. Ten national films surpassed 1 million admissions, including the biopic
Monsieur Aznavour (2 million), the award-winning auteur musical
Emilia Pérez (1.07 million) and family film
Le Dernier Jaguar (1 million). The market share for French-made films reached 44.4%, one of its highest levels ever.
The UK maintained strong box office revenue, surpassing £978 million, while admissions grew 2.3%. November and December saw particularly strong growth, with admissions up 77% and 36% respectively year-on-year, thanks to hits including
Wicked,
Mufasa: The Lion King,
Moana 2 and
Sonic the Hedgehog 3, as well as British co-productions
Paddington in Peru and
Conclave.
Italy reported €494 million in box office revenue, selling 69.7 million tickets. Summer 2024 was the best in Italy’s box office history, exceeding the previous year’s record, while Christmas admissions surged 28%, with Italian films accounting for 45% of tickets sold in the festive period.
International hitsA key highlight across the EMEA region was Disney’s
Inside Out 2, the highest-grossing animated film of all time and fastest to surpass the $1-billion benchmark globally – in just 19 days. In Italy the film became the third highest-grossing non-local release of the decade within 11 days, contributing two-thirds of June’s box office.
Universal’s
Despicable Me 4 and Disney’s
Deadpool & Wolverine also boosted summer admissions across the continent, before the second half of 2024 picked up with a more robust release calendar that saw multiple hits including Paramount’s
Gladiator II, Warner Bros’
Wicked, Disney’s
Moana 2 and Sony’s
Venom: The Last Dance. These titles helped bring the EMEA region back to pre-pandemic box office levels in the fourth quarter.
Cinema Days National Cinema Days once again achieved significant success across Europe, bringing in huge audiences. France's
La Fête du Cinéma attracted 4.65 million cinema-goers in its 39
th year, 50% above 2023, the best-attended edition since its creation in 1985.
Italy's
Cinema in Festa and Spain's
Fiesta del Cine proved very popular, with nearly 1.7 million and over 2.2 million admissions respectively, spread across two events in 2024. Germany’s
Kinofest attracted 1.2 million visitors in two days in over 700 cinemas, making it the best-attended cinema weekend to date.
Commenting on the figures, UNIC CEO Laura Houlgatte said:
“
Both local hits and US blockbusters played a crucial role in 2024, while cinema operators across Europe continued to invest in the best experience for their audiences. These two ingredients – a great film and a great experience – are the key to cinematic success. Our message is clear: continue to bring quality, diverse and well-marketed films to the Big Screen and the audiences will follow.”
Gower Street Analytics estimates that the 2025 global box office will grow by $2.5 billion to $33 billion, with EMEA estimated to reach $9.1 billion.
Attachment Table with tentative market performance indicators for 2024 (where available) - see p.3.
Notes for editorsUNIC is the European trade grouping representing cinema exhibitors and their national trade associations across 39 European territories. More information available on
unic-cinemas.org.
Sources UNIC members. Complementary information from Comscore, Gower Street, European Audiovisual Observatory, BE (Film Matters), BG (Национален филмов център), CY (DJK Group), CZ (Unie Filmovych Distributoru), DE (FFA – Filmförderungsanstalt),
FR (Centre National du Cinéma et de l’Image Animée), GR (Hellenic Film & Audiovisual Center), HU (Nemzeti Filmiroda Főosztály), IE (Pearl&Dean), LU (Film Matters), PT (Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual), RO (Cinemagia), RU (Nevafilm Research).
ContactInternational Union of Cinemas (UNIC)
communications@unic-cinemas.org
