Irish are Europe's top moviegoers
The Irish were the top moviegoers in the European Union in 2001, and film attendance in general rose more than 10% over the previous year, an EU study revealed today.
The Irish went to an average of 4.2 films each in 2001, three times more than those in Greece and Finland, according to Eurostat, the EU statistical office.
The Spanish followed with 3.6 films each. Finland and Greece lagged behind the other member countries with an average of 1.3 films per citizen.
Cinema visits rose 10.2% to 930 million tickets in the fifteen member countries in 2001, with the biggest gains in Germany, which was up 17%, France at 12%, and Denmark, up 11%.
Two in three films seen by Europeans in 2001 were American, representing around 80% of box office receipts in Spain, Britain, Luxembourg, Greece, and Germany.
For their part, European films accounted for only 5% of receipts in the United States.
If the Irish were the most avid movie-lovers, the French were the most patriotic.
American films grossed just 54% of France’s box office receipts, the smallest percentage in the EU.
France also had the largest percentage of profit from domestic films at 32%.
Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone was the highest-grossing film in the EU in 2001, the leader in six of the eleven member countries for which figures were available.
Denmark, Germany, Austria, Spain, and France relegated the American movie to second or third place behind European films.
In France, Amelie and La verite si je mens 2 dethroned Harry at the box office.
The study reports that UE residents went to the movies an average of 2.4 times in 2001, compared with 5.4 trips in the US and 1.3 trips in Japan.
