Record-breaking success of Skyfall boosts attendance of EU films to around 313 million admissions.

Attendance fell in the European Union in 2012 while market share for European films grew, according to the latest report from the European Audiovisual Observatory.

Overall, attendance fell by 2.2% down to 933.3m admissions in the Union with marked differences across European countries. Finland and Romania grew by 19.7% and 15.4%, respectively, while the UK remained stable but France fell 6.3% despite selling the most tickets in the EU at 203.4m.

Despite this, attendance for European films within the EU grew by 12% to around 313m admissions, boosted by the success of majority UK co-production Skyfall, bringing the market share of European films within the EU to 33.6% - the highest level of the century.

The overall drop in admissions didn’t prevent gross box office reaching a record high for the second year running at €6.47bn, achieved partly due to increased ticket prices as a result of 3D releases. Average ticket price across the EU in 2012 was €6.90.

2012 also saw 21,693 digital screens installed across the EU by the end of the year, with the UK and France leading the digital markets at 93% and 92% digital penetration, respectively.