Polish box office and admissions slipped year-on-year during 2003.

Yearly admissions fell 8.6% to 23.4m and box office 7.4% to $86.7m (ZLO319.7m) in 2003.

The fall mirrors the worldwide box office decline and also follows a disappointing year for local titles, which saw only one major Polish release, Jerzy Hoffman's When The Sun Was God, reach a top ten position.

Released by Syrena, the film weighed in at number six with 900,550 admissions and a $2.7m gross.

In 2002 two local releases featured in the top ten (including third placed Zemsta), as did Polish co-production The Pianist (fourth) while a further three local titles appeared between 11th-15th.

2003 saw no further local successes until low budget comedies The Body (Cialo) and Superprodukcja appeared at 16th and 19th respectively.

The biggest news of the year was the launch of Forum Film to distribute BVI product in Poland. The newcomers proved they could efficiently penetrate the Polish market with three films reaching the top ten (Finding Nemo, Bruce Almighty and Pirates Of The Caribbean: Curse Of The Black Pearl).

POLISH TOP 20, 2003
Title (Country of origin) Distributor Admissions Gross in $

The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers (NZ-US) Warner Bros 1.76m $6.6m
The Matrix Reloaded (US) Warner Bros 1.60 $5.9m
Harry Potter & The Chamber Of Secrets (UK-US) Warner Bros 1.67m $5.5m
Finding Nemo (US) Forum Film 1.3m $4.1m
The Matrix Revolutions (US) Warner Bros 909,676 $3.3m
When The Sun Was God (Pol) Syrena 900,550 $2.7m
Bruce Almighty (US) Forum Film 619,522 $2.3m
Chicago (US) SPI 509,368 $1.98m
Pirates Of The Caribbean (US) Forum Film 493,940 $1.8m
Terminator 3: Rise Of The Machines (US) UIP 420,757 $1.6m
Talk To Her (Hable Con Ella) (Sp) Gutek Film 384,497 $1.48m
Johnny English (UK-US) UIP 392,702 $1.46m
Love Actually (UK-US) UIP 356,808 $1.34m
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (US) Monolith 334,846 $1.32m
8 Mile (US) UIP 345,242 $1.28m
The Body (Cialo) (Pol) SPI 319,048 $1.23m
Kill Bill, Volume 1 (US) Monolith 311,065 $1.2m
Frida (US) Spinka 306,090 $1.15m
Superprodukcja (Pol) Vision 269,912 $1.04m
Piglet's Big Movie (US) Syrena 309,335 $0.99m

Source: ES Media