Estonian feature film “Class Reunion” broke many records last year

In the attendance rankings since the restoration of independence, “Class Reunion” had approximately 189,100 viewers, only 5,000 viewers short of the record set by James Cameron’s “Avatar”. Thus, it became the most viewed Estonian movie since the restoration of independence. “Class Reunion” also became the first film to gross over a million euros in the Estonian market – no Hollywood movie has reached this milestone.

Despite the success of “Class Reunion”, only 21 Estonian films were screened last year – the number was three times higher in 2015. In Estonian cinemas, 199 films from other European countries and 138 films from the United States were screened. In total, cinemagoers could choose from 377 films in 2016. Besides “Class Reunion”, “Ice Age: Collision Course” (approx. 133,200 viewers) and “The Secret Life of Pets” (approx. 121,600 viewers) also made it into the top three of viewer rankings.

In 2016, there was also a record number of cinema visits – a total of nearly 3.3 million visits were made to Estonian cinemas, which is 200,000 more than the year before. Although more than a third of the films screened in 2016 were produced in the USA, US films still had nearly twice as many viewers as films from other countries in total. While the average ticket price for Estonian and other European films was 5.1 euros, cinemagoers had to pay on average 40 cents more to see an American movie.

In 2016, a total of 27 full-length films were produced in Estonia – 13 feature films and 14 documentaries. There were also 19 short feature films, 74 short documentaries and 21 short animations produced. No full-length animations have been produced in Estonia in the last four years.

Full-length film – a movie with a duration of at least 60 minutes or a video of at least 52 minutes. Short film – a movie with a duration of up to 59 minutes or a film for television with a duration of up to 51 minutes.