Italian box office dips in first quarter
The Italian box office has reported a sluggish start to the year with box office receipts down by 3.2% over the first quarter. Ticket sales have also fallen by 5.3% to 30.2m tickets compared to 31.9m for the same period last year.

Spanish box office takes $160m in first quarter
The Spanish box office took a total of $160m (Euro 120m) in the three months to March 29 compared with $180m (Euro 136m) in the same period last year.

German cinemas post strong first quarter with $280m takings
German exhibitors reported overall takings of $280.1m (Euro 210.8m) for January 1 to March 22. The figures are down 5% on the same period in 2008, when takings reached $290.6m (Euro 218.7m), but beat the first quarter of 2007 ($220.6m, Euro 166m), 2006 ($241.3m, Euro 181.6m) and 2005 ($ 239.6m, Euro 180.3m).

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo drives Danish box office
The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo accounted for 20% of all ticket sales in the first the months and led to a 3% rise compared to the same period last year.

Swedish films take 40% market share in first quarter
The preliminary figures for the first quarter of the year estimate a local market share of 40% with total ticket sales exceeding 4.6m, up 17% on 2008.