The last cinema link in the Forum Cinemas chain in Viljandi transferred ownership to the Apollo cinema chain this week. Of the major commercial cinemas in Estonia, only the one owned by Cinamon at the T1 Mall in Tallinn remains outside Apollo's control.

"A cinema business operates similarly to a scale-based business. If we operate within a slightly larger group, we can ultimately do it more efficiently, manage costs better and thus run the cinema business more sustainably while also offering more reasonable ticket prices," said Toomas Tiivel, CEO of Apollo Group.

Asked whether ticket prices would now become cheaper, Tiivel replied that he wasn't sure, as everything else in life is getting more expensive.

"Cinema ticket prices are still determined by the market and demand," he added.

Regarding whether Apollo Group has further ambitions in Estonia's cinema market, Tiivel said that they would likely look southward. "The Estonian market is small, the number of people is limited, so there's not much room for more," he explained.

Like the Forum Cinemas chain, Apollo also focuses on Hollywood productions. For now, the Ministry of Culture is not concerned about a decline in the diversity of film offerings.

"In a sense, you could say there's an oversupply of the same kinds of films. About 64 percent of films in cinemas are American. So it's not a direct cause for concern yet. Of course, it would be nice to have more European and Estonian films, but it's not particularly tragic. The bigger concern might be the position of those cinemas that only show independent films, art house and value cinema. Their position could weaken over time," said Karlo Funk, audiovisual adviser at the Ministry of Culture.

The cinema market now finds itself in a near-monopolistic situation. How did this happen?

"A dominant market position or a monopoly is not illegal. What's illegal is acquiring that position with the aim of raising prices or somehow harming the market or competition. The Competition Authority cannot make that assessment today," said Evelin Pärn-Lee, director-general of the Competition Authority.

The Competition Authority has an ongoing investigation regarding participants in the cinema market, but it has not yet taken a position on the current situation. However, the authority promises to keep an eye on Apollo's operations.

"In a situation where a company holds a dominant market position and prices are unreasonably high, this is clearly a violation. The Competition Authority has been analyzing and monitoring cinema ticket prices over the past four years, and we have indeed seen a trend of rising prices. It's too early to say whether this is a case of exploitative price increases, but objectively speaking, prices have gone up," Pärn-Lee stated.

Art house cinemas, which operate with state support, have also raised or are planning to raise ticket prices.

"We absorbed the VAT increase at the beginning of the year, but this fall we were forced to adjust ticket prices upward a little, and that adjustment was made some time ago," said Rein Palosaar, head of Artis Cinema.

"There will definitely be a ticket price increase because the state has decided to raise VAT. This affects everyone equally. Adding a 24 percent VAT to cultural event tickets is absolutely outrageous," said Indrek Kasela, owner of Sõprus Cinema.

The rise in ticket prices, combined with the general increase in the cost of living, has led to a decline in cinema attendance. This negative trend could continue into next year, as the Ministry of Culture's support for art house cinemas will decrease by 4 percent.

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