BUSINESS NEWS

SA box office report

Thu, 13 Oct 2011 16:29

Seventy-three percent of the 74 films released in South Africa from 29 April to 31 August 2011 originated from the US, while South Africa accounted for only 12% (nine) of films released, followed by India with four films according to the National Film and Video Foundation’s (NFVF) 2nd Trimester Box Office report.

The performance of local films increased by a 3% margin over this period to a comparatively stronger market share of 5%. The highest grossing South African film over this period was Jock of the Bushveld which secured a strong 63% (R9.9m) market share.

From a distribution point of view, the licensing trend indicates that while there is a greater demand for US films, there is still a comparatively competitive market for local films. Nearly all the film distributors had a local film released on circuit during the period under review.

According to the report, the South African audience was spoilt for choice in the second trimester of 2011 judging by the number and perceived quality of titles released over the period. However, the level of imported films, particularly from the US, is still much higher than what the local industry can directly compete with. Titles such as Transformer 3, Harry Potter 7, Pirates of the Caribbean 4 and Fast and Furious 5 were among the top grossing films during this period, all managing to gross in excess of R18m.

The report further gives brief analysis of what drives consumer behaviour in relation to the film choices that the cinema going audience makes. It makes reference to UK expert Angus Finney’s observations about the importance of the advertising efforts of film marketers, distributors and even exhibitors and how these influence the perceptions and choices of audiences for certain films.

Another notable trend was in the performance of different movie genres during this period. Previously, dramas were generally always at pole position but this time around, comedy films were relatively more abundantly distributed than all other genres. The distribution of comedies more than doubled (143%) compared to the last trimester. The underlying conclusion is that comedies, as a product, demonstrated increasing returns to scale, generating R62.4m in the second trimester. Animation was second generating R51.8m and science fiction films in third place with R49.6m.

Gross ticket sales over this period reached a high of just over R285m, which is 28, 4% more than last period.

The report concludes that to date15 South African features were released since the beginning of 2011. As there are still a number of local films set for release this year, it is anticipated that coming films might pick up and leverage on the successes observed over the current period.

The full report can be accessed from http://nfvf.co.za/document/2nd-trimester-box-office-report.

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