Czech films attracting more cinemagoers

The Czech film industry is on the rebound. After playing second fiddle to foreign productions for years, Czech films are now attracting a record number of cinema goers and helping to raise profits.

Photo: Manu Mohan / freeimages

The Czech film industry is back in business, if one can go by the number of tickets sold. In the first half of this year cinemas sold over seven million tickets, which is the highest number since 1993. And Czech films significantly raised cinema attendance. Out of the top four most popular movies, three are Czech.

While in 2009 Czech films only attracted around a thousand moviegoers each, today they are pulling the crowds. According to data from the Czech Union of Film Distributors, the movie Lída Baarova, a film about the turbulent life of the Czech film star and her tempestuous love affair with the Nazi propaganda boss Joseph Goebbels, has attracted a record number of over 400,000 visitors since its premiere at the start of the year. Second in line is the American fantasy film Deadpool, a top-rated movie in the US, with over 340,000 visitors in the Czech Republic, followed by two more Czech films Teorie Tygra which attracted over 280,000 cinemagoers and Padesátka, seen by close to 280,000 viewers.

Czech films, which just several years ago attracted only a fraction of the overall number of cinema goers, now have a 29 percent slice of overall attendance. Last year Czech cinemas attracted close to 13 million visitors making more than 1.6 billion crowns and the indications are that this year may be even better.