18/12/2014 - €123 million in takings and a market share of 25.5% give the Spanish film industry plenty of cause for joy

2014 has been an immensely pleasing year for the Spanish film industry, at least as far as the box office is concerned. This is demonstrated by the €123 million in takings (75.3% more than in 2013), the highest ever amount. The market share reached 25.5%, a percentage that is in line with what the sector has been hoping for for years, though it had not been achieved since 1977. And this all comes at a time when there are still a few weeks to go before the year draws to a close, which means that this number will continue to rise. 

The main driving force behind this exceptional result is the comedy Spanish Affair [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Emilio Martínez Lázaro, which took €56 million and drew in over ten million viewers, followed by a trio of films that managed to smash through the million-viewer mark: El niño [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Daniel Monzón
film profile] by Daniel Monzón (2.7 million), Torrente 5: Operación Eurovegas [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Santiago Segura (1.8 million) and Marshland [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Alberto Rodríguez
film profile] by Alberto Rodríguez (one million). These titles could very well be joined by Mortadelo y Filemón contra Jimmy El Cachondo [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Javier Fesser (which has enticed 480,000 viewers over 12 days).

In contrast, in 2013 just two Spanish productions broke through the million-viewer mark (one of which was the minority co-production Fast & Furious 6).

This undeniably positive outcome runs the risk of placing a considerable burden on future results, as it is difficult for such a success to become the norm. Nevertheless, the biggest achievement could be that this has shattered the negative image that audiences have of Spanish films. Only time will tell if that has been the case.

(Translated from Spanish)