Screen Building Boom Continues in Central Europe

The number of cinema screens across Central Europe is set to rise to more than 3,000 by 2011 according to the latest report on the region, Cinemagoing Central Europe 2007 from leading cinema industry analysts, Dodona Research. This represents a net increase of 11% from 2006. However, the number of new builds will be far greater due to the anticipated closure of numerous traditional cinemas.

Central Europe is one of the few remaining regions in the world where new cinema construction is still continuing apace. Poland, the largest market in the region, is set to see the most growth in new multiplexes, which are springing up in shopping malls across the country. Poland's first multiplex was opened in 1998 and, since then, more than 400 multiplex screens have been constructed.

Smaller markets such as Croatia and Romania still have a proliferation of formerly state-owned cinemas, which are usually traditional, single screen venues. Many of these are expected to close as investment in modern multiplexes begins to get underway in earnest.

Cinemagoing Central Europe forecasts admissions to rise by 25% over the next five years, in response to the investment in new cinemas and due to strong domestic film industries in countries such as the Czech Republic. The entire region had a disastrous year in 2005, but the majority of markets proved able to bounce back in 2006. "Our analysis revealed that Slovakia posted the strongest results in 2006 with a 53% rise in admissions from the previous year. Despite its still old-fashioned infrastructure, admissions reached a record 3.4 million and we expect them to rise by a further 21% by 2011", said report author, Alisdair Ritchie.

However the strongest growth is expected in the larger, more mature market of the Czech Republic, where admissions are forecast to rise by more than 50% by 2011. The country already has one of the strongest rates of cinema attendance in the region, but the anticipated admissions growth will take admissions per person ratios to a rate of 1.8, comparable to some Western European countries.