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Event Cinema: A big screen staple After her first year in the role, the ECA’s MD Grainne Peat reflects on the buoyancy of the sector.
I
N THE UK AND IRELAND, June 2019
Box Office admissions from more than 10 different territories
broke records for event cinema, taking
(including the US, Australia, Russia and France). It includes a
over £6m at the box office. CinemaLive’s
range of insight from content providers, vendors and cinemas.
“Take That – Greatest Hits Live”, returned
(For a copy, email info@eventcinemassociation.org).
to the big screen, taking over £2m. It is
currently the highest grossing event cinema of 2019 and the
Amsterdam for the annual conference
seventh biggest title ever. While overall box office across the
Collatiing and sharing data will be at the heart of our annual
industry saw a dip in the early part of the year, we’re now
conference that takes place at the EYE Film Museum in
seeing growth in all areas, especially event cinema. National
Amsterdam on Thursday 10 October. We envision a wide
Theatre is having a strong year with “All About Eve” and “All My
discussion around the need for a universal (and agreed)
Sons” (the third and fourth highest grossing titles of 2019) and
categorisation of event cinema to help get better transparency
there is still more to come.
of performance. There is no doubt that the sector has evolved
Our sector made its stage debut at CineEurope, delivering
and is mainly defined by content and/or by methodology of
a landmark presentation to a full house. The hour-long show
release — even within these categorisations, it is not always
was rich in content, with exclusive announcements and
clear what is considered to be ‘event cinema content’. This is a
personal messages from well-known stars. With a keynote
much-needed discussion that the ECA is best-placed to steer.
from the CEO of Vue Entertainment, Tim Richards, the show
In partnership with UNIC and EDCF, the ECA has launched
saw content providers take to the stage to deliver an enticing
a survey into event cinema. It’s purpose is to gain a better
range of titles for European cinemas. With presentations from
understanding on issues relating to technical delivery and
Dutch, French, Italian, American, Australian and British
marketing of our content. The survey will be shared through
entities, it showcased the diversity of event cinema.
the networks of the ECA, UNIC and EDCF, with a link available
Also in June, in partnership with Comscore, the ECA
on the ECA’s website. This will help develop understanding
launched its first Annual Report: 2018 was a successful year,
about how event cinema performs — frequency, ticket prices,
particularly in the UK, and with a refreshed globally focused
delivery methods and issues — and to understand how the
association, it is an exciting time to provide a united voice in a
ECA can support members with marketing and delivery.
fast-changing industry. Our annual report demonstrates the
The conference will present a wide range of topics for our
importance of collating and sharing data and trends. While
community, and a fantastic opportunity to network with
there is a lot that can be refined for future editions, it was a
members and colleagues across Europe. For details, visit
valuable and welcome fact-finding mission to pull together
eventcinemaassociation.org.
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