Local films’ market share nearly doubles in Latvia

The market share for admissions to domestic films in Latvian cinemas nearly doubled last year, according to new data published by the Latvian National Film Centre.

The figures show that the market share for local films grew from 3.8 per cent in 2015 to over 7.4 per cent in 2016, with 186,000 viewers watching local films out of total cinema audiences of 2.5 million in 2016.

Topping admissions figures for domestic productions were Swingers, Mellow Mud, and Chronicles of Melanie. Local film experts from filmas.lv commented that this apparent increased success is unsurprising, given that 2016 saw seven Latvian films screened in the nation’s cinemas, compared to just three in 2015.

Despite this recent increase in market share, Latvia still lags behind its neighbours in this regard — the market share of local films last year was 10.5% in Estonia and 19.5% in Lithuania.

Source: LSM.lv