After a steady decline since the mid-1950s, cinema attendance in the European Union started to climb again in the 1990s, according to Eurostat. However, despite the growth, the 800 million admissions during 1988 still fall well short of the 1955 peak of 4 billion. The advent of home entertainment technologies – including video and cable television – were behind the fall in attendance since the 1960s.
In 1990 there were only 580 million admissions. However, across the course of the decade the big screen gained in popularity in Europe with ticket sales up 40% by 1998. Improved cinema complexes and increased of spend on leisure activities are cited as reasons for the growth.
With 170 million tickets sold, France accounted for more than 20% of all cinema admissions in the EU in 1998. Next came Germany (149 million), Italy (119 million) and the United Kingdom (116 million). Attendance per person is highest in Ireland at 3.4, followed by Luxembourg (3.3) and France (2.9).
EU cinema attendance is nevertheless a long way behind that of the US – 2.1 visits per person to the cinema in 1998 in Europe compared with 5.5 in the States. In 1997 more than half of the new films shown on cinema screens in the EU came from the United States. By comparison, domestic production accounted for 95% of the new films distributed in the US in 1995.
