Admissions at Spanish cinemas took a 12.7% dive in 2005,hitting a seven-year low.

According to figures from Nielsen EDI, box-office grosses inSpaindiminished 9.5% to $745.9m (617.5m Euros) from $823.8m (682m Euros) theprevious year. Admissions dropped 12.7% from 140 to 122.2 million, thelowest level recorded locally since 1998.

The downward turn reverses the recovery Spanish cinemaswelcomed in 2004, when admissions went up for the first time since 2001.

Despite their continued market dominance, US films sufferedin Spain,dropping their market share from just above 69% in 2004 to around 61% in 2005.

Hispano Foxfilm's Star Wars Episode III Revenge Of The Sith and Warner Sogefilms' HarryPotter And The Goblet Of Fire were neck-and-neck as of year end. EDIfigures placed Star Wars at the top,with $22.8m (18.9m Euros)versus Potter's $22.5m (18.7mEuros), both significantly less than last year's top grosser, Shrek 2, which took $34.7m (28.8m Euros).

With Potter stillin the top 10 as of January 1, it looked to continue growing its returns andwill ultimately outperform Star Warsin Spain. TwoDecember releases, Buena Vista's The Chronicles Of Narniaand UIP's KingKong, were also continuing strong as of January 1.

Spanish films officially upped their market share, from13.4% in 2004 to around 16.8%. However, removing two top-grossing Spanishco-productions from the calculations - Ridley Scott's Kingdom Of Heaven and BreckEisner's Sahara- leaves local films with closer to a 14% market share.

Ticket sales on Spanish movies were nonetheless spreadacross a greater number of local titles than usual - whereas most years fewerthan five films are seen by over 500,000 people, last year that number was 11(including Kingdom Of Heaven and Sahara).

UIP's Torrente 3, El Protector was far and away thelocal box office hit, with $21.8m (18.1m Euros) earned. December 23 release The Two Sides Of The Bed (Los Dos Lados De La Cama), a sequelto the 2001 hit film, was up to $4.7m (3.9m Euros) by Jan 1, placing it in thenumber 6 spot on the year-end ranking of local titles after just its secondweekend out.

UIP was the top-earning distributor in Spainlast year, followed by Hispano Foxfilm, Warner Sogefilms, Disney and Sony. Local distribution leaders wereTripictures, Sogedasa (Filmax) and DeA Planeta, followed by indiesAlta Films and Vertigo Films.

TOP 10 FILMS 2005

Rank - Title (Countryof Origin) - Distributor - Release date - Total gross

1) Star Wars Episode III RevengeOf The Sith (US)- Fox - May 19 - E 18.7m

2) Harry Potter AndThe Goblet Of Fire (UK)- Warner Sogefilms - Nov 25 - E 18.9m

3) Torrente 3, El Protector (Sp) - UIP - Sept 29 -E 18.1m

4) War Of The Worlds(US) - UIP - June 29 - E 16.5

5) The Chronicles Of Narnia (US)- BVI - Dec 9 - E 14.1m

6) Meet The Fockers (US) - UIP - Feb 4 - E 13.6m

7) Madagascar(US) - UIP -June 17 - E 13.5m

8) Fantastic Four (US)- Fox - July 15 - E 12.6m

9) Mr And Mrs Smith(US) - Fox - Aug 19 - E 12.5m

10) Million Dollar Baby (US)- Sogedasa - Feb 4 - E 12.4m

TOP 10 SPANISH FILMS2005

Rank - Title -Distributor - Release date - Total gross

1) Torrente 3 El Protector - UIP - Sept 29 - E18.1m

2) Kingdom Of Heaven - Fox - May 6 - E 11.9m

3) Princesas - Warner Sogefilms - Sept 2 - E 5.7m

4) El Penalti Mas Largo Del Mundo -Alta Films - March 8 - E 5.0m

5) 7 Virgenes -Alta Films - Sept 23 - E 4.3m

6) Los Dos Lados DeLa Cama - BVI - Dec 23 - E 3.9m

7) Sahara - UIP - April 22 - E 3.8m

8) Tapas - Sogedasa - May 13 - E3.7m

9) Habana Blues - Warner Sogefilms- Mar 18 - E 3m

10) Camaron - BVI - Sept 23 - Euros3m

Sources: ICAA, Nielsen EDI