Montage: Home entertainment market; Film in Turkey; Spanish film sales; Bradford city of film

Here’s a selection of blog-worthy items culled from the news media over the last couple of weeks:

Writing in The Financial Times, Matthew Garrahan reports new data from Screen Digest that show a decline in global home entertainment sales, which fell by more than $2.6 billion in 2008. Total revenues from DVD and Blu-ray rentals and sales stood at $26.4 billion in 2008. Revenues from DVD (which accounted for two-thirds of the total) fell by 4.8%.

Although sales of Blu-ray media saw a fourfold increase to $482m last year, the format has not seen nearly enough growth to counteract the decline in DVD sales.

Helen Davis Jayalath, senior analyst at Screen Digest, told the FT, “we expect Blu-ray to account for 6.9% of international video spending this year – assuming there is strong promotional activity [by the studios]. However, despite consumers’ interest in the high-definition format and demand for packaged media, the current challenging economic climate means that we don’t expect Blu-ray to be driving even minimal sector growth until 2010.”

Staying with the FT, Pelin Turgut has contributed an interesting piece on the state of play in the Turkish film business, where production levels have risen from 17 films in 2004 to 70 last year. Total box office gross stood at $225 million in 2008, and Turkish films had a market share of 60%, up from 12% in 2004, despite accounting for only 18% of all releases. Turgut quotes Adnan Akdemir, chief executive of AFM Cinemas, Turkey’s largest exhibitor, who notes that international sales are thriving and can expect further growth in countries outside Europe:

“Turkey’s export market isn’t Europe. On a mass scale, my expectation is that the next step is to start exporting films to countries with similar cultural backgrounds, like parts of the Balkans, Central Asia, Russia and the Middle East. Not India, nor Italy. The stories, the background, the way movies look – these need to be culturally applicable.”

While on this subject, figures released by FAPAE, the Spanish Federation of Audiovisual Producers, reveal the strength of Spanish film sales internationally. Sergio Ríos Pérez, writing for Cineuropa.net, reports 72 Spanish productions and co-productions were released in 17 foreign territories in 2008, generating a combined box office gross of €132 million. The most widely distributed title was The Orphanage (in 19 countries), followed by [REC] (14) and Vicky Cristina Barcelona (9).

Overall, Spanish films performed best in France, with box office gross totalling €61.15 million, followed by the US and Canada (€18.92 million), Germany (€13.73 million) and Mexico (€13.57 million).

...And finally, I can’t finish without congratulating Bradford for becoming the first ever UNESCO City of Film. By 'eck!