NFVF releases box office report

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NFVF releases box office report --

Wed, 11 Mar 2015 11:38

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The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) continually conducts research into varying aspects of the film industry. The research is conducted in order to develop a better understanding of the industry. The foundation has therefore released the box office report for January through December 2014.

The year 2014 marked a period where South African s experienced challenges with electricity supply constraints, repeated strikes and a weak recovery of the rand. Most recently economic indicators suggested a passive economic environment which contributed to a relatively slow growth.

Due to these and other challenges, the film industry experienced a slow recovery in terms of growth in box office revenues generated. A total of 228 films were released at the box office during the period under review, 23 of those films were South African films. The report indicates that South Africans continue to show more interest in imported titles, with local films only claiming 6% market share at the box office. Theatrical revenues for all films released in South Africa amounted to R880.3 million in 2014, an increase of 0.13% compared to 2013. Foreign films experienced growth by 6%, while South African films declined by 44% in 2014.

Commenting on the box office decline, which also has impact on audience development Zama Mkosi, NFVF CEO, indicated that the foundation is working on strategies to ensure that South Africans appreciate local films. Mkosi mentions that the NFVF conducted audience research earlier in the year, which indicated that amongst others; access to cinemas, cinema experience and the content we provide to consumers play a key role in cinema attendance. To remedy this we will be developing an audience development strategy to ensure South Africa s appreciation of local films.

The most popular films with the highest earnings in 2014 were Transformers: Age of Extinction, The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies, and How to Train your Dragon 2. The highest performing local film was Pad na Jou Hart, which earned R11.6 million, the second highest grossing film was Leading Lady taking only R7.6 million, while Faan se Trein earned R7.2 million at third place. It was noted with interest that six of the top ten local films were Afrikaans language films which is an indication of the growing viewership for Afrikaans movies.

All is not lost for films in other local languages as the NFVF has designed projects to ensure that local audiences these films. We have launched Youth Filmmaker and Women Projects to ensure that emerging filmmakers skills are improved, says Mkosi. Together with Industrial Development Corporation and the Department of Trade and Industry, the NFVF now offers black emerging filmmakers an opportunity to access funds from the Emerging Black Filmmakers Transformation Fund launched in July 2014.

Once again animation was the highest grossing genre, coming out on top were How to Train Your Dragon 2 and Rio 2. The combined gross earnings for animation equated to R140.2 million. Action/adventure was the second highest earning genre of the year with a combined gross earning of R139.9 million. Drama was the third highest earning genre with combined gross earnings of R120.2 million.

In terms of distribution the biggest portion of market share was generated by Times Media Distribution (TM) claiming 49% of the total box office earnings, a huge improvement on 36% in 2013. Ster-Kinekor was the second highest distributor claiming 31% market share, a decrease from 39% in 2013. The third biggest share was taken by United International Pictures (UIP) claiming 14% of the total gross, a drop from 22% claimed in 2013.

Regardless of the report, local films continue to be appreciated internationally. Local films comprising current releases include Four Corners, Hear me Move, Hard to Get and Cold Harbour which continue to raise the South African flag. At the recently held 2015 Pan African Film Festival, Four Corners was nominated for Best Narrative Feature while Cold Harbour was selected for Best First Feature Narrative. Another local film that screened at the festival, Thina so Babili, won the Audience Award.

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