162 films were produced in Estonia, while the number of films screened was 428
According to Statistics Estonia, 30 full-length films were produced in Estonia last year, including 15 documentaries, 13 feature films and two animations. The number of short films (less than 60 minutes in length) produced last year was 132, including 62 documentaries, 44 feature films and 26 animations. Cinema attendance totalled nearly 3.7 million.
In addition to productions for the cinema, there are also corporate films produced in Estonia. These are primarily advertising and promotional films, but also included almost 300 educational films and several dozen music videos. Estonian enterprises also contribute to the production of foreign films and provided 19 million euros’ worth of audio-visual services to foreign enterprises, with most of these services related to the production of feature and advertising films. Last year, the majority of such services were provided for the feature film “Tenet”.
Maali Käbin, analyst at Statistics Estonia, said that 58 of the 428 films screened last year were produced in Estonia. “In addition to Estonian productions, there were 199 films made in European countries, 136 films made in the United States of America and 35 films made in other countries shown in Estonian cinemas last year. Cinema attendance grew a little year on year and totalled 3.7 million. This means 278 visits per one hundred inhabitants. The average cost of a cinema ticket was 5.9 euros,” noted Käbin.
The most popular film by far in 2019 was “Truth and Justice” with 267,588 admissions. It was also the highest-grossing film with over 1.5 million euros. It was followed by “Class Reunion 3: Godfathers” and the American film “The Lion King” with an attendance of 122,146 and 112,606, respectively. There were two other Estonian films among the ten most-watched releases: “Ott Tänak: The Movie” and “The Old Man Movie”.
“According to the latest cultural participation survey conducted by Statistics Estonia, slightly more than a half of the residents of Estonia go to the cinema in a year. Nearly a half of the population have watched films over the Internet. The preferred genres are comedies, thrillers and family films, while horror films and documentaries are not as popular,” added Käbin.
Statistics Estonia surveys all the enterprises in the field of film production. Film enterprises submit data once a year on films produced as well as on the income and costs of film production. The year shown in the end credits is considered the year of production. The data on film distribution are collected by the Estonian Film Institute. The cultural participation survey is conducted by Statistics Estonia every three years. The most recent data refer to the year 2017. Statistics Estonia is currently conducting the next cultural participation survey with the results to be published next year.
More detailed data have been published in the statistical database.
See also the section on cinema and film production.
For further information:
Kadri Kütt
Media Relations Manager
Marketing and Dissemination Department
Statistics Estonia
Tel 625 9181