The audience of films dubbed into Catalan has tripled in six month

The number of spectators of movies dubbed into Catalan has tripled in the last six months. This has generated an increase for five of box office receipts, which amounted to €2 million benefits. According to the Catalan Government this increase has been possible thanks to the agreement signed last September between the Catalan Ministry of Culture, The cinema of Catalonia Entrepreneur Union and the Federation of Film Distributors (Fedecine), which aimed to increase the presence of Catalan in cinema screens.

The first half year of evaluation made ​​by the executive Council last Tuesday was very positive. The Catalan government spokesman, Francesc Homs, said that collections made by films dubbed in Catalan has multiplied by five (increased by 511%) between September 2011 and April 2012, reaching €2 million of benefits. In this period box office receipts were €2,015,730, while in the previous period (from September 2010 to April 2011) were of €329,468.

According to the data provided by the Catalan Government, from September 2011 to April 2012 the number of spectators has risen from 61,376 to 283,065, which represents an increase of 361% (176,689 more viewers) compared to the same period last year. The agreement has also improved the market share of films dubbed into Catalan, which currently stands at 3.1% whilst between September 2010 and April 2011 was 0.6%.

A drawback in the cinema Act

Despite the positive data, it is important to know that after the approval of the Cinema Law, the Majors boycotted the dubbing of films into Catalan until last July, so it is logical that there were fewer titles and copies.

This law was passed in the Parliament of Catalonia and called for equality of films dubbed or subtitled into Catalan and Spanish in five to seven years, but was rejected by the major film companies and distributors. They said it was for economic reasons, but was also for ideological purposes. 

The law came into force in January 2011, but without the rules that he should make the law effective. After months of negotiations, the Government of Catalonia and the Majors, leading exhibitors and distributors grouped around Fedicine, reached an agreement to develop the Cinema Act.

An agreement with no promises

On September 2011, the Employers Association of Cinema agreed to a gradual scale of dubbing that would mean that the market share for this year to Catalan were 11%. But this agreement came with two conditions. Firstly, the cost of the translation will be provided by the Catalan Government. And secondly, it will take place only if it was viable, that is, whenever there was enough demand. This is very difficult to prove because while distributor’s studies predict a small audience, studies of recognized Catalan institutions foresee a great demand.

The Catalan Minister of Culture, Ferran Mascarell, announced with The Fedecine President, Luis Hernández de Carlos, and The Employers Association, Camilo Tarrazón, that this agreement would mean that in 2014 the Catalan cinema would reach a share market of the 25% and it could increase to 35% in 2017. He also said that in 2012 it would be 25 films (an average of 11%) dubbed into Catalan. But the results of the market share are only of the 3.1% for the time being, far from their purpose when making the deal.