Swedish Cinema Ticket Price To Rise By Up To 20 SEK

Sweden’s new Film Policy to be implemented in January 2017 will partly be financed by an increase in VAT on cinema tickets, rising from 6% to 25%. This is intended to offset the abolition of the 10% “cinema fee” levied on box office receipts which currently provides over a quarter of the national film policy’s revenues.

Cinemas with more than five showings per week can expect to see ticket prices rise by just 6 SEK because they will no longer have to pay the 10% “cinema fee”. However, smaller cinemas can expect almost a 20 SEK increase in ticket price, although the government argues that this will be counterbalanced by plans to invest 25 million per year over four years in the renovation of provincial cinemas.

Minister of Culture, Alice Bah Kuhnke (MP), said: “When you make major changes in policy, not least in the film policy which that has remained the same for a long time, then there will be some concern… Now you have to pay the same tax, 25 percent, whether you see the movie at the cinema or rent the DVD.”