Despite growing public subsidies for filmmaking in Hungary, the number of tickets sold in the country for domestically-produced movies dropped by roughly 30% in 2007, while the total box office “take” for such films plunged by as much as 50%.
According to a report on napi.hu, preliminary data from the National Office of Cultural Heritage (Kulturális Örökségvédelmi Hivatal) shows that attendance at Hungarian-made films dropped from 2.2 million to roughly 1.5 million, outstripping an industry-wide slump that saw admissions fall from 13.4 million to 11 million.
Meanwhile, due to softness in ticket prices in cinemas showing the domestically-made films, the total box office for Hungarian-made films went from Ft 1.5 billion to Ft 1 billion (roughly €3.8 million).
The deep drop comes despite fresh data showing that a record Ft 28 billion went towards filmmaking in Hungary last year, and as Ft 57 billion has been “green-lighted” for upcoming productions. Last year 381 current or future film productions were registered by the state, 118 more than a year earlier.
The early rush by moviemakers to put in applications for state grants is in part due to protracted negotiations between Hungary and the EU about planned changes in the Hungarian subsidy system for the 2008-2009 period, which temporarily halted grant disbursals.
There are also fears that subsidies may be trimmed once Hungary agrees to change its grant system along EU lines, although officials said these fears were baseless.