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INDUSTRY Croatia

2008 results return to normal after 2006 peak

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The first non-EU member country of MEDIA Programme, Croatia follows the box office pattern of most Eastern European countries: US films account for 80% of the market and European films 16.5%.

Croatian films have a tough time as most cinemagoers generally dislike local fare. However, 2006 was an exception with Hrvoje Hribar's What Is a Man Without a Moustache?, which sold 157,000 admissions to become the highest local grosser of all time; Rajko Grlic's Border Post (approximately 60,000 admissions); and Branko Istvancic's children hit Ghost in the Swamp (35,000).

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The highest grosser of 2008 was Sex and the City (143,478 admissions - €527,948 grossed). Out of eight local films on release, Dalibor Matanic's Kino Lika [+see also:
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did best, with €55,553 and 17,536 admissions. The best-placed European film was Asterix at the Olympic Games [+see also:
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with 44,949 admissions sold to garner €151,628.

Distribution is dominated by two major players – Blitz (who release Warner Bros and UIP) and Continental Film (Sony, Buena Vista International, 20th Century Fox) – that account for 44.85% and 33.43% of the market respectively. There are three multiplexes in the territory and a total of 129 screens.

Production in 2008 was more or less the same as in the previous five years, with nine films made, two of which were co-productions. Festivals are thriving in Croatia, with about 50 international events. Festivals were also the first to benefit from the MEDIA Programme: the Motovun Film Festival will be co-financed with €35,000 annually in the next four years, while Zagreb's animated film festival Animateka received €27,921 for this year's edition in June.

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