<< Home First Colombian Film Industry Bulletin A project designed by Fedesarrollo for Proimágenes 1. EVOLUTION OF COLOMBIAN FILM MARKET   Between 1996 and 2005, average annual film attendance in Colombia was 17.4 million spectators. The Colombian film market began its sustained growth in 2006. Attendance in Colombia has doubled in the past six years, from 16 million spectators in 2005 to 33.7 million in 2010. The trend continues; in the first half of 2011, attendance increased by 14.5% compared to the same period the previous year.   Attendance was poor during the 1990s (percentage of spectators in total population), reaching only 0.4 in 1999. The rise in number of spectators in Colombia in recent years increased the attendance rates, doubling them over five years, from 0.37 spectators per inhabitant in 2005 to 0.74 in 2010. In the first semester of 2011, the attendance rate continued to grow and has now reached 0.83 spectators per inhabitant.   At the end of the 1990s, the average box office total was 129.4 billion constant pesos (using June 2011 as base figure). In recent years, positive results in the Colombian film industry are also visible in box office figures. In the last six years, this box office total has risen by 60%, from 157 billion pesos to nearly 270 billion pesos in 2010 (constant prices based on June 2011). This trend continues. From January to June 2011 total box office grew by 15% over the same period in the previous year.   From 1996 to 1999, an average of 258 national and foreign films were released for an average of approximately five films per week. From 2000 to 2010, the number of annual releases averaged 189 films, less than four releases weekly.