Conditions remained difficult for the movie industry in Portugal in 2012, even if French films' market share was remarkably high.
Movie attendance figures and box office revenues in Portugal have continued to plummet since 2010, with 13.8 million spectators (-12%) and €74 million (-7.5%) registered in 2012. The number of screens in operation also fell from 558 to 551. These screens were spread across 160 sites (5 less than in 2011), 53% of which are owned by the country's four major exhibitors: Zon Lusomundo, Socorama, UCI, and New Lineo Cinemas. At the end of 2012, Portugal offered a total of 392 digital screens. These four exhibitors accounted for 91.1% of all admissions.
Of the 288 titles released on Portuguese screens in 2012, 137 productions were American, 26 were Portuguese, and 66 were French. With an even stronger hold on this market in 2012, French films provided the second largest supply of film product after Hollywood films (73.3%), and boasted an exceptionally high market share of 7.17%, against 5.3% for homegrown films. Local films nonetheless achieved their highest market share since 1975.
French films
After a significant rise in results already apparent in 2011 (+43.2%), French films registered an extraordinary increase of 91% in 2012. This is largely credited to the success of French-language films, which attracted 615,621 admissions out of a total of 990,686 admissions. French films thus broke the record set in 2008 (the year of the release of Asterix at the Olympic Games).
Portugal remains badly affected by the current economic crisis, and the closure of 49 of the 106 theaters operated by the country's second largest exhibitor (Socorama) raises fears that 2013 will continue to be a highly challenging year for this market.
Auteur films have an increasingly tough time to gain access to theaters, with independent distributors forced to offer films an extremely limited release.
The exhibitor and distributor Zon Lusomundo remains a loyal supporter of French films, releasing 31 titles in 2012, while Clap Filmes/Atalanta released 9 titles. Following their lead, Midas Filmes released 7 films, while Alambique released 5 French titles.
Results for French-language films increased radically compared to 2011, while those of French films shot in a foreign language rose by 7.8%.
Two French-language productions attracted more than 100,000 admissions: The Intouchables, with 216,000 admissions and Asterix and Obelix: God Save Britannia (121,731 admissions), while The Artist registered 67,609 admissions.
With a total of 600,000 admissions already credited to The Gilded Cage (photo), 2013 promises to be a record-breaking year for French films in Portugal.
