TALLINN: A total of 21 Estonian films premiered in cinemas in 2017 and two of them made it to the top ten. The Dissidents, directed by Jaak Kilmi and produced by Taska Film, ranked 2nd with 85,306 admissions and over 480,000 EUR gross, while Swingers, directed by Andrejs Ekis and produced by Platforma Film, ranked 7th.
It is the films targeted specifically at the domestic market that break records. Both Swingers and Class Reunion, directed by René Vilbre and also produced by Taska Film, which made history in the Estonian cinema in 2016 with the highest admissions and box office since the restoration of independence, were remakes of domestic successes.
In 2017 domestic films had 282,421 admissions, adding up to an 8% market share.
Total admissions amounted to an all-time high of 3.51 m, a 6.3 percentage-point increase from 2016, and admissions per capita reached 2.67 compared to 2.4 the year before. Total box office made a 9.1 percentage point rise to 19.39 m EUR.
Out of 355 films that were distributed in Estonia in 2017, 179 originated from Europe with 24% market share, 111 from the US with 55% market share, and 37 from the rest of the world with 13% market share. The number of European titles is high both due to the fact that many domestic titles enjoy a run in the cinemas, even if it is a short one, and the distributors of European films are willing to bring less promising titles out alongside the certain hits, as they have long-term relationships with sales agents.
Four Estonian cinemas, among them two art house cinemas in Tallinn belong to the Europa Cinemas network, which also contributes to the high number of European titles, and the A-category Tallinn Black Nights Film Festival, help promoting films which have a theatrical release later, as many successful titles sell out quickly during the festival.