EUROPEAN MOVIES GAIN GROUND IN U.S.
Copyright 2002 www.screendaily.com

[ March 26th 2002 ]

From a commercial perspective, 2001 was an exceptional year for European cinema. The box office share of European films climbed in their home markets and in the US export market.

According to data from the European Audiovisual Observatory (EAO) the market share of US films in Europe dropped from 73.7% in 2000 to 66% last year. And four European films made it into the region's top 20. Encouragingly for European producers, three of them Amelie, Bridget Jones's Diary and The Others achieved wide cross-border distribution in several European territories. German comedy Der Schuh Des Manitu achieved 10.5 million admissions in its national market and, but was also successful in Austria and Switzerland.

According to the EAO the BO share achieved by European films in the US climbed from 3.6% in 2000 to 4.5% last year. But this was seen as a recovery with figures still below 1999 (5.5%) and in 1997 (5.4%).

Top 20 films at the European BO (2001)

1) Harry Potter And The Sorcerer's Stone US 39.3

2) Bridget Jones's Diary GB-US 24.7

3) The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring US-NZ 20.2

4) Shrek US 20.0

5) What Women Want US 19.8

6) Hannibal US 19.8

7) American Pie 2 US 19.8

8) The Mummy Returns US 16.5

9) Cast Away US 16.4

10) Pearl Harbor US 15.0

11) Planet Of The Apes US 14.7

12) Jurassic Park III US 13.7

13) Amelie Fr-Ger 13.2

14) Der Schuh Des Manitu Ger 12.5

15) Lara Croft: Tomb Raider US-UK-Jap-Ger 11.8

16) The Others Sp 10.3

17) Moulin Rouge US-Aus 9.5

18) Traffic US-Ger 8.4

19) The Emperor's New Groove US 8.3

20) Scary Movie 2 US 8.1

Source: European Audiovisual Observatory (EAO) Figures in millions of spectators. Nationality as defined by EAO.