Brazilian box office climbs for third year; local titles falter

The figures represent an increase of 12% in total sales and 5% in tickets sold, according to Filme B, a local film company that reviews theatrical market data.

This is the third consecutive year that Brazil has achieved an increase in its box office – even though growth percentage is lower than that of in 2010, when there was a 30% climb in revenue and 20% rise in admissions.

According to Filme B, 181 new screens that opened in the country in 2011 were responsible for approximately 50% of the market growth.

There was not, however, a commensurate improvement in the performance of Brazilian films. Domestic titles were seen by 17.8m people, grossing $91.9m (real 164m) and accounting for a market share of 11.6%, which represents a drop of 27.3% in sales.

The highest grossing local film was Cilada.com, which totalled $15.9m (real 28.4m), followed by De Pernas Pro Ar with a gross of $15.5m (real 27.7m). Both are rom-coms, a genre that dominated the public’s preference in terms of local product and represented five of the top 10 local titles.

Brazil’s top 10 films of 2011

Rio (pictured) – $38.5m (real 68.7m)
The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 – $35.9m (real 64.1m)
Harry Potter And The Deathly Hallows: Part 2 – $32m (real 57.1m)
The Smurfs – $29.3m (real 52.2m)
Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides – $27.6m (real 49.2m)
Tangled – $22.3m (real 39.8m)
Puss In Boots – $20.2m (real 36.1m)
Transformers: Dark Of The Moon  – $20.1m (real 35.9m)
Cars 2 – $18.9m (real 33.7m)
Fast Five – $ 18.7m (real 33.4m)

Source: Filme B