25/04/2013 - The Broken Circle Breakdown and Ernest & Célestine, respective champions of Belgium's French- and Dutch-speaking box-offices for 2012

The yearly VAF balance-sheet gives a detailed summary of the situation, all languages combined, of admissions for Belgian films in Belgium in 2012. As usual, the results are very different depending on whether the numbers relate to films in French or Dutch.  

On the French side, the CCA's last balance-sheet (news and article) looked promising with good results scored by films by Belgian directors on the “broader” Francophone territory (ie. Belgium and France). In total, in 2012, those films drew 1,500,000 spectators (including more than 180,000 in Belgium). The box-office hit, Ernest & Célestine [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Benjamin Renner, Vincent Pa…
film profile], released in December, tops the bill on both sides of the border, with nearly 730,000 admissions in France, and 62,000 in Belgium. It is also worth mentioning the good performance chalked up by Joachim Lafosse’s latest film, Our Children [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Joachim Lafosse
film profile] (150,000 admissions in France, 35,000 in Belgium), that of Mobile Home [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by François Pirot and Miles From Anywhere [+see also:
trailer
interview: Pierre Duculot
film profile] by Pierre Duculot, which both attracted more than 13,000 viewers. 

(The article continues below - Commercial information)

On the Dutch-language side, 1.72 million spectators went to see a Flemish Belgian (co-)production at the cinema in 2012. Which is 100,000 fewer than in 2011. While overall attendance is falling, the proportion of receipts for author films has nevertheless risen. The Broken Circle Breakdown [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Felix van Groeningen
interview: Felix Van Groeningen
interview: Felix Van Groeningen
film profile] (photo) by Felix van Groeningen is the 2012 box-office champion with 355,313 spectators (still showing, it has now reached 393,000 viewers). The film has therefore joined the Top Ten of the most successful Flemish Belgian films since the year 2000. Time of My Life [+see also:
trailer
film profile] by Nic Balthazar (186,429 viewers) and K3 bengeltjes [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (169,271) respectively occupy the second and third places on that list. Consequently, the market share of Flemish Belgian cinema was 9.35% in 2012 (versus 8.29% in 2011). It is also worth noting that three films with majority funding from the VAF entered the box-office's Top Five of the most widely viewed Belgian movies in France: Sammy's Great Escape [+see also:
trailer
film profile] (3.3 million spectators), Come as You Are [+see also:
trailer
interview: Geoffrey Enthoven
film profile] (144,890) and Bullhead [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Bart Van Langendonck
interview: Michaël R. Roskam
film profile] (91,160). 

(Translated from French)