MOSCOW, December 15 (RIA Novosti) - The Russian film market has been growing for four consecutive years now. Total box-office returns reached 50 million dollars in 2001, $110 million in 2002, and 200 million in 2003 (with 60 percent of the sum falling on Moscow movie theaters' share). According to the RosBusinessConsulting agency, this year's figure is predicted at 270 million dollars, Rossiyskaya Gazeta reports.
Moscow's commercial movie theaters have their annual yield at 25 percent now. It takes 3 to 4 years to return the spent funds on the average, provided that at least 30 percent of the house's seating capacity is filled. Top movie theaters are now often filled 70 to 80 percent.
According to the Nevafilm company, the number of modernized movie theaters across the nation increased by 22 (83 screens) in the first half of 2004 to reach a total of 376 (640 screens). By the year's end, there will be as many as 240 such cinemas in Moscow alone (as against 188 in July 2004).
The current construction boom in urban shopping areas gives an additional boost to the development of Russia's movie theater market, with most of the multiplex cinemas built inside large department stores.
Moscow and St. Petersburg have quite a few VIP movie theaters, located in detached buildings, with the average ticket price at about 35 dollars.
Russia now ranks among the world's top twenty countries with the highest first-week box office proceeds. An analysis of per-copy returns indicates that during their first weekend out, many of the flicks gross more in Russia than they do in the United States.
