Irish box office revenues continued to climb - up 4% to Euros 97.5m in 2003, while admissions bucked the downward European trend and rose by 1% to 17.4 million, according to year-end analysis of cinema-going in the Republic of Ireland from Carlton Screen Advertising.

The population of the Republic of Ireland stands at 3.9m and records about 4.5 visits per person per annum. By contrast Northern Ireland with a population of 1.7 million records 3.2 visits per person per year. Northern Ireland admissions at 5.4 million were down 2.5% on 2002.

That the Republic of Ireland managed to turn a box office year that was mostly negative across Europe into a positive is down to the performance of a significant number of locally-made films. Collectively these 12 films grossed Euros 10.8m or something over 11% of the total box office gross for the year.

In general the films did not perform as well in Northern Ireland or in the UK.

2003 Box Office for Irish/Irish made films

Veronica Guerin - Euros 4,020,924
Intermission - Euros 2,477,246
In America - Euros 1,861,534
Song for a Raggy Boy - Euros 659,878
Evelyn - Euros 462,215
Spin the Bottle - Euros 480,201
The Actors - Euros 246,575
The Magdalene Sisters - Euros 229,909*
The Good Thief - Euros 206,595
Dead Bodies - Euros 103,413
Goldfish Memory - Euros 74,702
Mystics - Euros 16,373

TOTAL - Euros 10,839,565
*2003 gross only
Source: Screen International