02/01/2014 - 23 domestic releases in 2013 are not able to beat the amount earned by 18 releases in 2012

Although the number of domestic releases increased in 2013, their earnings (€671,130) were significantly lower than the total earned by the 2012 releases (€880,570), according to data made available by distributors. The numbers are even more striking when one takes in consideration that this year's numbers received a great boost from Calin Peter Netzers's Child's Pose [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Calin Peter Netzer
film profile], which became the most popular domestic release in more than a decade, with 117,809 admissions.

Child's Pose is responsible for 41% of the total amount of admissions in 2013 (a few films are still being screened in cinemas, but their earnings will not significantly change the statistics). There are only two releases with more than 20,000 admissions, Iulia Rugina's Love Building [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Iulia Rugina
film profile] (26,578), which has already been selected for a sequel, and Alexandru Maftei's Miss Christina [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (24,389), an atmospheric horror whose release was intelligently synchronized with Halloween. If one ignores the success of Netzer's film, the situation is quite bleak for the other Romanian films released this year: the average of admissions amounts to 7,590, while the earnings average to only €17,640.

The fact that as many as 12 releases were scheduled over ten weeks in autumn meant that Romanian productions spent less time in cinemas and that cinemagoers interested in local films had too many options.

Romanian film industry fared much better in 2012, when four films reached 50,000 admissions. The most popular was Tudor Giurgiu's Of Snails and Men [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Tudor Giurgiu
film profile] (63,855 admissions), followed by romantic comedy Lie to Me Sweetly (55,629), Cristian Mungiu's Beyond the Hills [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Cosmina Stratan
interview: Cristian Mungiu
interview: Cristian Mungiu
interview: Cristian Mungiu
film profile] (53,083), and Christmas comedy Ho Ho Ho 2: A Family Lottery (50,774). In 2012, the average number of admissions was almost 18,000.