Editor

2011 has been a good year for cinemas, movie theaters and art houses. In 2011, over 30 million people purchased a movie ticket. That is a number that has not been achieved since 1978. Box-office receipts increased to almost € 240 million.
To cap it all, for the first time since 1986 (Flodder) the Dutch feature film Gooische Vrouwen attracted a record attendance of over 1.9 million movie-goers, making it the number one movie at the box office in 2011.
Despite the success, however, the cinema industry is concerned about the upcoming cutbacks on film culture. These cutbacks will cause the number of Dutch films produced as from 2013 to decrease significantly, which will put a heavy strain on the market share of Dutch films.
This was announced today by Wilco Wolfers, president of the Dutch Federation for Cinematography (Nederlandse Federatie voor de Cinematografie, NFC), in the Amsterdam Pathé Tuschinski at the New Year’s reception of the Dutch Exhibitors Association (Nederlandse Vereniging van Bioscoopexploitanten, NVB), the Dutch Film Distributors’ Association (Nederlandse Vereniging van Filmdistributeurs, NVF) and Film Producers Netherlands (Film Producenten Nederland, FPN).
In her address, the new NVB president, Winnie Sorgdrager, shared her concerns with the industry members regarding the piracy of film products on the Internet, among other things. In Sorgdrager’s opinion, the government should take regulatory action in order to prevent the illegal supply of films by enabling film makers and film operators to better protect their product than is presently possible on the Internet. After all, unbridled piracy will ultimately affect the movie theater as well. To thwart this, adequate legislation is required, according to Sorgdrager.
In total 30,434,937 people attended a cinema, movie theater or art house in 2011 (2010: 28,189,790 movie-goers). Film clubs and art houses drew 1,976,000 viewers, an increase of 11.9%. Total box-office receipts rose to € 239,928,440, an increase of 9.37 % compared to 2010 (€219,370,413).
Dutch feature films have contributed substantially to this growth. With a market share of 21.88% (2010: 14.83%), 2011 has been an exceptionally good year for Dutch films. In total over 6.8 million movie-goers (2010: 4.4 million) attended Dutch films in the movie theaters. Of these more than 6.8 million viewers, 28% came to see Gooische Vrouwen.
The basis for the growth in movie attendance in recent years can be found in a combination of factors: the aforementioned success of Dutch films, the introduction of 3D films and the rising number of cinema screens and chairs. In the past five years, 13.000 chairs and 96 screens were added. Cities in which new cinemas opened saw spectacular rises in movie attendance.
With an average ticket price of €7,88 that has hardly increased compared to 2010 (€ 7,78), going to the movies still remains the most inexpensive of all leisure activities.
The film that attracted the most movie-goers in 2011 was Gooische Vrouwen, with 1,919,982 viewers and a box-office receipt of 15 million euro. The number two movie was Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, with 1,378,512 viewers. Number three in 2011 was Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides with 1,073,583 viewers.
The Dutch 3D-production Nova Zembla attracted over 624,000 movie-goers in 2011. With a turnover of € 5.6 million euro, it has reached sixth place in the General Top Ten and second place in the Top Ten of Dutch films.
Sonny Boy, New Kids: Nitro, De Heineken Ontvoering, All Stars 2 Old Stars en Bennie Stout – De Grote Film van Sinterklaas each drew in excess of 200,000 movie-goers to the cinema.
Sonny Boy, the Dutch submission to the 2012 Oscars, attracted 417,270 viewers.
The cinema industry in 2012: continuing innovation and support of Dutch films
By the middle of 2012, the cinema industry will have finalized the digitalization of all movie theaters in the Netherlands. This will make the Netherlands a front runner within Europe with regard to this new technology. Digitalization will induce a fundamental change in the way cinemas will be managed as well as in the distribution and production of films. Many consider this the most momentous change for cinemas since the introduction of sound films.
In 2011. the cinema and film distributing industry offered financial support to producers of Dutch films in the amount of € 1.6 million through the Abraham Tuschinski Fund. This amount will be indexed yearly to over € 2 million in 2015. Nederlandse Vereniging van Filmdistributeurs Filmproducenten Nederland (v/h/ NVS) Nederlandse Vereniging van Bioscoopexploitanten Postbus 59329, 1040 KH Amsterdam Postbus 92098, 1090 AB Amsterdam Teleport Boulevard 110, Amsterdam Korte Zoutkeetsgracht 2 Krijn Taconiskade 420, Amsterdam T 020 – 3 86 86 30 1013 MC Amsterdam T 020 - 4266100 F 020 – 3 86 86 30 T 020 - 6270061 www.filmdistributeurs.nl www.speelfilmproducenten.nl www.nvbinfocentrum.nl www.nfcstatistiek.nl
Finally, the cinema and film distributing industry has decided to once more strengthen its ties with the 85-year-old Foundation for Pediatric Rehabilitation (Stichting Bio Kinderrevalidatie). In the coming years, the industry will provide financial support for this foundation’s important work and will dedicate itself to further the name recognition and reputation of the Foundation to which it once lent its name (“Bio” is short for “bioscoop” or cinema).