Polish cinemas sold a record-breaking 19.8 million tickets in the first half of 2009, up 16% compared to the same period last year.

Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa topped the charts over the first six month, clocking up 2.1m admissions and roughly $12m in sales.

The Dreamworks’ adventure, released by UIP in January, is one of four films that has broken the 1m-admissions barrier this year. Angels And Demons, the top film in many other European territories, only just crossed the 1 mission admissions taking $5.6m since its release in May.

The top local productions were Love And Dance, directed by Swiss-born film-maker Bruce Parramore, which made $6.5m on 1.3 mission admissions, and Popieluszko – Wolnosc Jest W Nas, based on the life of Jerzy Popieluszko, a Catholic priest murdered by the secret police in 1984, has reached 1.3 million admissions and earned $4.8m.

 

Box-office Top 10 Poland H1 2009

1. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa (US)                                             

2. Love And Dance (Poland)                                                 

3. Popieluszko – Wolnosc jest w nas (Poland)

4. Angels And Demons (US)                                                 

5. Monsters Vs Aliens (US)                                                   

6. The Perfect Guy For My Girlfriend (Poland)                     

7. Slumdog Millionaire (UK, US)                                          

8. Bedtime Stories(US)                                             

9. Vicky Cristina Barcelona (Spain, US)                    

10. Snow White And Russian Red (Poland)