INTRODUCTION

Known for its fragmentation and diverse languages and cultures, the European film industry still experiences difficulties in competing with the dominance of Hollywood. While roughly 1.9 million cinema tickets are sold annually for American films – both studio and independent – in Europe, non-national European (NNE) filmsonly sell an average of 185,000. NNE films account for 12 per cent of total European cinema admissions, while national films (those made for a domestic audience) account for 21 per cent of admissions. This is in stark contrast to the figure for American films, which stands at 65 per cent (Jones 2020). What is clear from these figures is that, from an audience standpoint, Hollywood is still at the heart of European film culture, and European films still encounter major obstacles in crossing their national borders (Higson 2015: 138). When European audiences are drawn to NNE films, it is because they offer an alternative (in terms of narrative, genre, casting, etc.) to popular Hollywood cinema, not (necessarily) because of their (foreign) nationality or opportunity to encounter a different culture or place (Jones 2017: 479). In sum, European films are unlikely to travel in Europe unless they are:

Looking at recent developments, one could also add ‘or a remake of a popular, commercial European film’ to the above enumeration. In Europe, nationally produced films supply increasingly universal themes and subject matter for border-crossing (translation) purposes (Verevis 2017: 153). Because of these opportunities, several pan-European enterprises have been formed in the past two decades. These enterprises simultaneously distribute films in European and international areas, with remakes and re-adaptations ‘at the heart of [their] creative strategies’ (Meir 2018: 4). Looking at box-office revenues, such intra-European remakes generally turn out to be quite successful. Moreover, and perhaps more importantly, the practice might present a potential solution to the inability of popular European films to cross borders. Even European film industries that are part of the same geo-linguistic region (e.g. Scandinavia) are dealing with these barriers.