The Dutch box-office business has recovered in 2006 after a devastating 2005 with an increase 9% in admissions and an increase of 14% in box-office takings.

Total box-office gross revenues amounted to $200.0m (Euros 154.5 m), compared to $176.2m (Euros 135.5m) in 2005. The total admissions climbed from 20.6m to 22.5m in the past twelve months.

Buena Vista released the territory's top-grossing film, Pirates of the Caribbean 2, which took $13.8m (Euros 10.6m) and sold more than 1.5m tickets, followed by Sony's The Da Vinci Code, which grossed $10.5m (Euros 8.1m) and 1.1 m admissions.

The best-performing Dutch production was Paul Verhoeven's wartime thriller Black Book. His first local production in 30 years grossed $9.1m (Euros 7m) and sold almost 1m tickets.

The total market share of local films was 10.9% of all theatrical admissions. In addition to Black Book, successful Dutch releases were Ben Sombogaart's Crusade in Jeans ($2.9m or Euros 2.2 m), Maria Peters's XTC: Just don't do it! ($2.9m or Euros 2.2 m) and Johan Nijenhuis's Zoop in India ($2.5m or Euros 1.9m).

Apart from Black Book, all national successes are children's films, a consistent trend in the Dutch film industry. Family films have been responsible for the most significant part of local admissions for quite some years. In 2005, the best performing Dutch titles were Kameleon 2, Zoop in Africa, and Schnitzel Paradise - all three aiming for a younger audience.

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