BOX OFFICE Czech Republic

by Martin Kudláč

05/02/2019 - Bohemian Rhapsody’s Queen mania rocked local theatres in 2018

2018 was the most successful year for Czech cinemas in recent history (since 1993). While 2017 saw attendance fall by 2.49% compared to the previous year (despite a 4.28% growth in screenings), 2018 saw a 7.29% hike in attendance, resulting in 16,344,483 paying theater-goers, who were able to choose from among 314 film premieres, including 79 new Czech films. The number of screenings rose by 10.19% compared to 2017 to a total number of 544,243. The total revenue for 2018 came to 2,268,942.623 Czech crowns (approximately €88.3 million), a 13,21% upsurge compared to the previous year, although it is also worth noting that the price of the average cinema ticket rose from 131.57 Czech crowns (€5.12) to 138.82 Czech crowns (€5.40). As a reminder, the Czech Republic has a population of 10.6 million inhabitants with 285 cinemas, resulting in a total number of 532 screens.

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Bohemian Rhapsody rocked local theatres, becoming the number one most successful film of the year, raking in 1,073,638 paying theatre-goers, despite entering cinemas on 2 November. Not only did the musical drama become the most watched film of 2018, but also the most watched film in the history of the Czech Republic. The film’s reign continues well into 2019, having been seen by 1,369,462 theatre-goers and earning 213,565,349 Czech crowns (€8.3 million) – setting the new domestic record and beating Avatar’s 1,358,252 visitors.

The Queen biopic overtook Avengers: Infinity War, which had 2,072 more scheduled screenings and ended up being seen by 631,252 cinema-goers. While the third most-watched film of the year was Rudolf Havlík’s Czech comedy, What Men Long For (558,988 visitors). Other successful Czech productions include the comedy Patrimony by Jiří Vejdělek (10th most visited film with 348,082 theater-goers) and two fairy tales, Devilry (325,121 visitors) and The Magic Quill (288,216 visitors).

American imported productions still remain the most watched in Czech cinemas, while attendance at Czech film screenings rose to 23.3% (3.8 million visitors). The distributor CinemArt became a market leader in the Czech Republic, after distributing the most successful film of the year (Bohemian Rhapsody), the most successful Czech film of the year (What Men Long For) and the most successful independent European production of the year (Suck Me Shakespeer 3 ), for a 40.8% share of total attendance. Falcon and Vertical Entertainment followed suit with 28.1% and 12.7% respectively.