With 2.5million admissions for local features so far and the rest of December to go atthe box office, the Dutch films' box office for 2005 is up by at least 13.6%.

In 2004, 2.2million tickets were sold for Dutch films in total. Children's and youth filmsform the most significant part of thegrowth with 2005 box office hits like Kameleon 2 (Stevende Jong), Zoop in Africa(Johan Nijenhuis), Schnitzel Paradise (Martin Koolhoven) andWinky's Horse (MischaKamp). The last two box office hits have recentlybeen selected for the up-coming Berlinale Kinderfilmfest. The last Dutch film of the year to bereleased was, De Griezelbus, an adaptation of the very popular children's books by Dutchwriter Paul van Loon.

With boththe admissions and the local market share up, the success of Dutch films is asilver lining to the otherwise bleak picture of the overall cinema admissionsin the Netherlands as well as in Europe. Total box office for the Netherlands are down 12% with a total grossfigure of $150m (125m Euros) versus last year's figure of $171.3m (142.8m Euros).