European Union MEDIA II Programme with the Sup- Port of the Italian Government Via Soperga, 2 • 20127 Milano • Italy Tel

an initiative of the European Union MEDIA II Programme with the sup- port of the Italian Government Via Soperga, 2 • 20127 Milano • Italy tel. +39.02.66984405 fax +39.02.6691574 e-mail: [email protected] http://www.mediasalles.it International Edition no. 4 - November 1999 is that consisting of films co-produced with The core mission of MEDIA Salles is to pro- The circulation other European countries, or more often file European films, at all levels and with- of European films entirely produced, by the United Kingdom. in various areas. In order to succeed in this In this second group, we find practical- huge challenge it is vital to cooperate ly all the other European titles that have with a wide range of professionals with- Every year in the European Cinema Year- been circulating successfully in Europe; in all relevant segments of the film industry, book, MEDIA Salles publishes information i.e. exhibition and distribution. on the most successful films in each of amongst these: Bean; Full Monty, Spice- The ultimate target of all projects is of course the European countries analysed. world, Borrowers, Shooting Fish. the audience. Without an audience, film It is, in fact, possible (through the admis- With the exclusion of the UK, there are production is absurd. Thus any initiative sions) to discover for each country in the few films that can be considered “Euro- from the MEDIA Programme is a political year under consideration, the 10 most suc- pean successes”. Amongst them are the action, exercised in a practical, promotional cessful films in absolute terms and the 10 entirely Italian-produced La Vita è Bella, and informative way. most successful home-produced films, as the German-Swedish-Canadian co-pro- MEDIA Salles has gone a long way towards well as the 10 European non home-produced duction Pippi Langstrump and some enhancing proper knowledge of what is films most widely seen. French-produced titles, such as Le Dîn- really going on in the exhibition busi- Taking these “top tens” as a starting point (continues on page 2) ness throughout the whole of Europe. (those available at this date), we have at- The European Cinema Yearbook is a tool tempted to distinguish some trends in the from which reliable national conditions are circulation of European films outside their reflected in basic facts and figures, and as home countries, over the two-year period such can be regarded as a platform for con- (1997-1998). crete action. The accompanying table shows the Euro- Season’s It is absolutely vital that the cream of Eu- pean titles that appeared in the classifica- ropean films travels across national bor- tion of the top ten European (non home- ders. We all know the obstacles – languages, produced) successes in at least 3 coun- greetings and lack of information and business rela- tries in Western Europe. tions, traditions, etc. To overcome these For each title the results of the film in 1997 a happy difficulties MEDIA Salles believes that the and/or 1998 are shown, as percentages, in creation of networks and cooperative terms of tickets sold compared to the na- teams is one path to follow. The “Euro Kids tional total in the same year. year 2000 Network” is such a path. By bringing to- The information regarding a specific film gether cinemas which share an interest in is thus only shown for a country, if it was promoting quality films for children and a “European success” there (that is, one of the young, new possibilities for distribu- the 10 most successful European films not tion arise. Once the demand is there – sup- home-produced). ply will follow. Therefore, the table does not show either The same concept is applied concerning the films that were distributed in several Eu- European films outside Europe, princi- ropean countries but did not emerge as pally in the U.S. A large group of inde- amongst those most widely seen, or films pendent exhibitors and distributors work that were successful in several countries but hard to endorse our films. MEDIA Salles for which all were co-producers. is now trying to team up with our Amer- The films that can be seen from the table Europe - USA ican partners on this matter, and the es- to have had most success in Europe can be sential research is already underway. divided into categoriesJ according to certain How far away is America? The report, pre- Again, knowledge of how to find the different features. sented on 31 July at the TaorminaFilm- most effective solutions is a prerequisite A first group is that consisting of films co- for success in this difficult task. fest ’99 and entitled “Cinema Exhibition produced with the United States. Of these, Wherever the industry gathers, wherever and Distribution in the United States. The English Patient and Tomorrow Never Dies, politicians meet to discuss media culture The release of European Films: an and policies, whenever the public ex- co-produced with the UK, and Le Cinquième overview”, and the list of European films presses its desire for diversity, MEDIA Elément, co-produced with France, stand on release in the USA in the next months Salles hopes to be present as an effective out in particular. These are films made in – published in this issue of the Newslet- working tool for European exhibition, English, with no specifically European cul- ter – are some of the tools through which fulfilling its special brief alongside the tural connotations. They are three films MEDIA Salles intends contributing to a many national and supranational players which were also widely popular on the US market (with a box-office of respectively deeper knowledge of the North Ameri- which strive to promote Europe's cinema can market. In order to prepare the report, industry. around 63, 78 and 125 million dollars). To these three leading titles can be added as much data as possible was collected other US co-productions, such as Sliding and elaborated on the distribution of Jens Rykaer European films in the United States. Treasurer of MEDIA Salles Doors, Fierce Creatures, Michael Collins. The second and most numerous category (continues on page 3) Edito da: MEDIA Salles - Reg. Trib. Milano n. 166 del 19.3.1999 Direttore responsabile: Elisabetta Brunella. Hanno collaborato a questo numero: Paola Bertinotti, Luigi Codemo, Rosella Gioffrè, Caterina Molari, Chiara Morelli, Silvia Mancini, Alessia Sartirana Grafica e impaginazione: Genus di Paolo Guidobono - Gi&Gi Stampa: Tipografia Restelli - Costa Volpino (BG) - Italia Spedizione in a.p. - art. 2 comma 20/c legge 662/96 Filiale di Milano NOW AVAILABLE, THE 1999 ADVANCE EDITION On 28 September 1999 the advance edition of the European Cinema Yearbook was presented in Rome during the Eurovisioni Festival. The Yearbook, now at its eighth edition, confirms its position as the most detailed and up-to-date overview of cinema exhibition in Europe. As from this year, the research has been extended to include Latvia and Yugoslavia and analyses a total of 30 European countries, by means of 40 statistical indicators, for the 1989-1998 period. From left to right: Giovanni Castellani (President of the Com- mission for Culture of the Chamber of Deputies, Italy), Lu- “As complexity increases, so does the necessity for decisions to be sup- ciana Castellina (Italia Cinema), Romano Fattorossi (ME- DIA Salles). The MEDIA Salles European Cinema Yearbook, which is distributed free of charge a er de Cons, Les Visiteurs 2, Taxi. In the case produced films” of the five largest Euro- ly in French-speaking countries). of the French films, it should, however, pean markets in 1997 and compared them Amongst the ten greatest home-produced be pointed out that they have circulated to the titles appearing in the accompanying successes in Italy in 1997, only La Vita è mainly in French-speaking countries: Bel- table, showing the most widely circulat- Bella circulated widely abroad. gium, Switzerland, Luxemburg. ed European films. For Spain and Germany, too, only one of Let us now see what happens to the great Of the 10 greatest national successes in the top ten home-produced titles in 1997 “national successes”. How many of the films France in 1997, three films were suc- appears in the table (Carne Tremula and that are a success in their home country cessful in Europe. The first is Le Cinquième Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door). (and thus appear in the “top ten home- Elément which, as we have seen, is not The situation is quite different for the produced films”) also become successful a typically European film. The other two UK: 9 out of 10 titles became European in other European countries (and there- are Microcosmos (that already had an in- successes (of these, 3 co-produced with fore appear amongst the ten European, non ternational circulation in 1996) and On Con- the USA). home-produced, films most widely seen)? naît la Chanson (the latter also characterised We found the titles of the “top ten home- by its good results being obtained main- Paola Bertinotti Admissions of non home-produced films (percentage of total tickets sold) Title Nationality B CH D DK E F FIN I3 IS4 LNLSUK5 1997 1998 1997 19981 1997 19982 1997 1998 1997 1998 1997 1998 1997 1998 1997 1998 1997 1998 1997 1998 1997 1998 1997 1998 1997 1998 A LIFE LESS ORDINARY UK 0,1% 0,3% 0,4% 0,4% AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN PARIS L, F, NL, USA, UK 0,4% 0,2% 0,3% BEAN UK 3,0% 4,1% 3,0% 1,9% 2,0% 6,5% 0,6% 3,3% 4,1% 3,0% 3,7% 5,3% 3,4% 2,5% BORROWERS UK 0,2% 0,3% 0,3% 0,3% 0,3% 0,4% 0,6% BREAKING THE WAVES DK, NL, S, F 0,3% 0,8% 0,2% 0,2% CAREER GIRLS UK 0,3% 0,1% 0,3% CARNE TREMULA E, F 0,2% 1,3% 0,6% 0,3% ELIZABETH UK, IND 0,5% 0,3% 0,3% 0,6%

Load more