The 28 EU states recorded grosses of $8.4bn in 2015, says a report from the European Audiovisual Observatory.

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According to data published by the European Audiovisual Observatory, the 28 EU Member States recorded combined cinema grosses of $8.4bn (€7.3bn) in 2015.

This represents a 16% increase on 2014, and is the highest level on record (not adjusted for inflation).

Admissions increased to 976 million, a 7.4% year-on-year increase, the second-highest level in the past 10 years behind 2009, when Avatar bolstered figures.

The pan-European average ticket price was an estimated $8.6 (€7.5), up from $8 (€7) in 2014, a 7% increase, which will have contributed to the elevated box-office figure.

Studio titles

Across the EU, growth was driven largely by the strong performances of US studio titles, which accounted for 18 of the top 20 films across the year and had an overall market share of 64%, only slightly up on 2014’s 62.3%.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens topped the chart in terms of admissions (39.8m), while Universal Pictures’ animation Minions (39.5m) was second, and Sony Pictures’ latest Bond outing Spectre (37.9m) came third. Rounding out the top five were Jurassic World with 30.4m admissions and Fifty Shades Of Grey with 27.3m admissions.

Four of the top five films sold more than 30m tickets, a marked increase on both 2013 and 2014 when not a single film crossed that threshhold.

Nine of the top 10 titles were based on existing properties.

Top 20 films in EU in 2015 by admissions

  1. Star Wars: The Force Awakens 39,791,061
  2. Minions 39,429,207
  3. Spectre 37,866,125
  4. Jurassic World 30,383,250
  5. Fifty Shades Of Grey 27,254,619
  6. Furious Seven 26,861,698
  7. Inside Out 26,798,394
  8. Avengers: Age Of Ultron 22,320,675
  9. The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2 17,019,151
  10. Hotel Transylvania 2 15,010,178
  11. The Martian 13,674,245
  12. American Sniper 12,494,177
  13. Mission Impossible - Rogue Nation 11,790,016
  14. Cinderella 11,620,306
  15. Big Hero 6 9,594,697
  16. Home 9,487,157
  17. Taken 3 8,937,358
  18. Fack Ju Gothe 2 8,640,137
  19. The Good Dinosaur 8,497,787
  20. Mad Max: Fury Road 8,472,489

EU market share drops

Admissions for European films were at a five-year low in 2015. Only two European titles made the top 20 films by admissions (French production Taken 3 with 8.9 million and Fack Ju Gohte 2 from Germany with 8.6 million). Overall, market share for European films dropped from 33.5% to 26.1% in 2015.

Several territories, however, did record a strong showing for local films, including France (35.2%), Denmark (29.8%), Finland (29.9%) and Germany (27.5%).

Boosted by UK-qualifying titles such as Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Spectre, the UK’s share for local films was up to 44.5%, making it the highest across the EU. UK independent films (those without US studio backing) accounted for 10.6%.

Top 20 European films in EU in 2015 by admissions

  1. Spectre 37,866,125
  2. Taken 3 8,937,358
  3. Fack Ju Gothe 2 8,640,137
  4. Kingsman: The Secret Service 7,337,579
  5. Shaun The Sheep Movie 6,568,812
  6. Honig Im Kopf 6,549,,967
  7. The Theory Of Everything 6,517,084
  8. Ocho Apellidos Catalanes 5,134,311
  9. Paddington 4,802,545
  10. Les Nouvelles Aventures of Aladin 4,377,528
  11. Les Profs 2 3,494,230
  12. The Little Prince 3,492,725
  13. The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel 3,123,327
  14. Papa Ou Maman 3,038,717
  15. Legend 2,896,794
  16. Listy Do M. 2 2,874,420
  17. Er Ist Wieder Da 2,712,179
  18. Pourquoi J’ai Pas Mange Mon Pere 2,478,630
  19. Babysitting 2 2,398,519
  20. Qu’est-ce Qu’on A Fait Au Bon Dieu? 2,381,641

US investment

The market share of European films produced in Europe with US investment grew significantly last year, rising from 0.4% to 7.3%, with titles including Kingsman: The Secret Service and Spectre performing well.

Elsewhere, the number of European theatrical films produced in the EU grew from 1593 to 1643 year-on-year: 69% of those were fiction films, while 31% were documentaries. Co-productions accounted for 24% of the total.

The data collected in the report was gathered in collaboration with the European Film Agency Research Network.