Spain’s Box Office Dips Slightly in 2018

John Hopewell

Wed, January 2, 2019 at 11:48 AM UTC

Spain’s box office dipped slightly last year, edging down 1.9% in theatrical revenues and 2% in admissions, according to a Comscore report published Wednesday.

In all, Spain’s B.O. gross came in at €585.7 million ($673.1 million), with 97.7 million cinema tickets sold.

“Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom” from Universal Pictures Intl., which dominated last year in Spain with three of the seven top-grossing movies, topped the chart, the fourth time a non-Spanish production has done so this decade. But the film world-premiered in Madrid and had a Spanish connection in its director, J.A. Bayona, each of whose four feature outings has, remarkably, been the top annual performer in Spain since his 2007 debut, “The Orphanage.”

“Bayona’s Spanish nationality undoubtedly helped ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’ to its No. 1 ranking,” said David Rodríguez, managing director of Comscore Spain.

Fox’s “Bohemian Rhapsody” is running “Fallen Kingdom” a pretty close second, earning €22.1 million ($25.4 million) at Spanish theaters last year.

The top-grossing local movie was Javier Fesser’s comedy “Champions,” Spain’s candidate for the foreign-language Oscar, which turns on an emotionally off-the-rails trainer assigned to a basketball team made up of special-needs players. The job proves his salvation.

Overall, Rodríguez said, “2018 sustains a longer-term recuperation of the Spanish box office, starting in 2014. This year’s dip is not really alarming, given the soccer World Cup last year,” which kept Spaniards glued to their TV sets.

Rodríguez also gave several reasons for optimism. Hollywood hits in Spain have largely been action franchise installments or family-targeting big animation plays. But last year’s top 10 also took in a genre title, “The Nun,” which grossed €10.6 million ($12.2 million) for Warner Bros., Rodríguez noted.

He said that Spain had begun to benefit from an upgrade of cinemas at the AMC-owned Cinesa, Cinepolis’ Yelmo Cines and Belgium’s Kinepolis Group.

The first Yelmo Cines Luxury complex opened in San Sebastián de los Reyes’ Plaza Norte 2 in November 2017. A Yelmo Cines Premium theater opened in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria a month later.

Cinesa has opened two Cinesa Luxe complexes, featuring reclining seats and a gourmet menu and a unique ScreenX 270% triple-wall projection system at one of the complexes, the Cinesa Luxe Equinoccio in Madrid’s Majadahonda suburb. Belgium’s Kinepolis bowed its first 4DX cinema in Spain in La Ciudad de la Imagen in December 2017.

“Spain’s major exhibition chains are competing, investing in new complexes and renovating others. With the potential strength of 2019’s release lineup, that suggests a powerful combination for 2019,” Rodríguez said.

Though no title matched the heights of “Spanish Affair’s” $77.5 million in 2014, Spanish cinema showed some depth, with 10 titles pulling in more than €3 million ($3.5) million. Total market share for national films was 17.5%, according to Comscore.

That’s just above the average of the last few years. Success for homegrown movies may be proving slightly less predictable than earlier this decade, when charts were dominated almost exclusively by titles co-produced and promoted by the film production arms of Spain’s top two commercial broadcasters, Mediaset Espa?a and Atresmedia, and distributed by a Hollywood studio.

Spain’s second highest-grossing title, “Superlópez,” co-produced by Mediaset Espa?a’s Telecinco Cinema, fits that bill. “Campeones” was a sleeper breakout, co-financed by public broadcaster RTVE. Two other titles in the list of top 10 local movies were released by leading Spanish independent distributor A Contracorriente Films. Eight of the 10 were co-produced or acquired by either Telecinco Cinema or Atresmedia Cine.

Emilio Mayorga contributed to this article.

TOP TEN HITS, SPAIN, 2018

Title, Distributor, B.O. Gross, Admissions

1. ”Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom,” UPI, €24.2 million ($ 27.9 million) 3.9 million;

2. ”Bohemian Rhapsody,” Fox, €22.1 million ($25.4 million); 3.6 million.

3. ”Incredibles 2,” Disney, €21.1 million ($24.3 million); 3.7 million

4. ”Avengers: Infinity War,” Disney, €20.5 million ($23.6 million); 3.4 million;

5. “Champions,” UPI, €19.1 million ($22.0 million); 3.3 million

6. “Hotel Transylvania 2,” Sony, €13.4 million ($15.5 million); 2.4 million;

7. ”50 Shades of Liberation,” UPI, €12.2 million ($14.0 million); 2.0 million;

8. ”The Meg,” Warner Bros., €11.0 million ($12.7 million); 1.8 million;

9. ”Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald,” Warner Bros., €10.9 million ($12.5 million); 1.7 million;

10. ”The Nun,” Warner Bros., €10.6 million ($12.2 million); 1.8 million.

TOP TEN SPANISH MOVIE HITS, 2018

1. “Champions,” UPI, €19.1 million ($21.8 million); 3.3 million;

2. “Superlópez,” Disney, €10.3 million ($11.9 million); 1.7 million;

3. “Perfect Strangers,” UPI, €8 million ($9.2 million); 1.3 million;

4. “The Best Summer of My Life,” A Contracorriente, €7.9 million ($9 million); 1.4 million;

5. “The Tribe,” Fox, €6.1 million ($7.0 million); 1 million;

6. “Sarah’s Notebook,” Disney, €5.2 million ($5.9 million); 845,209;

7. “Yucatan,” Fox, €5.1 million ($5.8 million); 916,697;

8. “Empowered,” A Contracorriente, €4.5 million ($5.1 million); 720,212;

9. “The Footballest,” PPI, €3.4 million ($3.9 million); 638,060;

10. “Everybody Knows,” UPI, €3.1 million ($3.5 million); 570,326.

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Spain’s Box Office Dips Slightly in 2018

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