The National Film and Video Foundation (NFVF) have released a report on the South African box office in the first semester of 2011 (January to April), which they hope will “open the door to understanding audience behaviour in the market and explore the opportunities of genre films within the local landscape’.
According to the report US films still dominate the South African exhibition market. Local films made up 8% of all exhibited films (65 films) from 31 December 2010 to 28 April 2011, while foreign films accounted for 92%, of which 71% were from the US. Local films (at 8%) were, however, the second most exhibited films in the market.
Of the R222m revenue grossed at the box office in the first semester, South African films secured a 2% market share (or R4.2m) in terms of box office receipts. The larger share (43%) of the local earnings were procured by Paradise Stop, followed by Getroud met Rugby, Superhelde, Life Above All and Night Drive.
The three most lucrative genres over the first semester were animation (R58.6m), crime (R22.6m) and comedy (R22.4m).
The animation genre was helped by the 3D format. Although other genres also offered films in the 3D format (e.g Sci-Fi), none were as successful as those offered through animation.
Nearly half of the exhibition revenue was garnered by Ster-Kinekor (49%).
