CineEurope

CineEurope 2026, the 35th edition, ran from 22 to 25 June at the CCIB in Barcelona. UNIC reported more than 3,000 attendees.

Eleven studios presented. Angel, Lionsgate and Sony opened on Monday. LAIKA, MUBI, Amazon MGM, STUDIOCANAL and Warner Bros. followed on Tuesday, and Paramount and Disney on Wednesday. Universal closed the convention on Thursday with a screening. Amazon MGM, MUBI and LAIKA were presenting for the first time. The trade fair was open from 11.00 to 17.00 on Tuesday and Wednesday.

UNIC published its annual report at the show. European cinema revenue in 2025 was close to €6.9 billion, with box office down 1.2%, and admissions fell 4.4% to 873.2 million. In the opening address UNIC said more than 15 markets had grown by double digits in the first half of 2026. It also welcomed moves to keep longer theatrical windows.

Multiplex Ukraine was named International Exhibitor of the Year and Warner Bros.' Jeff Goldstein International Distributor of the Year. Kinopolis and Omniplex won the UNIC/Coca-Cola Retail Awards. Phil Clapp stepped down as UNIC President after 13 years, and Jaime Tarrazón of FECE took over.

Registration and hotel booking for 2027 are marked "coming soon" on the Film Expo Group's CineEurope page. On past form, registration is online only and stays open until the last day of the show.

There are four types of pass. Full registration includes the studio presentations, screenings, seminars, meals and the trade fair. UNIC members get a lower rate, but UNIC has to approve it first. A Trade Fair & Seminars pass covers only those two, and One Day passes are sold on site only. Groups of ten or more can register together. Every delegate must accept a non-disclosure agreement, and from outside Spain you pay 10% Spanish VAT on top. The registration terms set out the details.

For 2026 the organiser recommended the Hilton Diagonal Mar, the Leonardo Royal Hotel Barcelona Forum and the Barcelona Princess, all near the CCIB, and its hotels page will list the 2027 hotels. It warns against third-party "housing" companies.

CineEurope follows the same format as CinemaCon — studio presentations, a trade floor, a seminar programme — but the room is European, and that changes what gets discussed.

European exhibition is structurally different from American: more single-site and small-circuit operators, more national film funding, more public and cultural-sector cinemas, more languages and therefore far more subtitling and dubbing, and VAT rates and film levies that vary by country. Sessions here deal with that reality rather than with the economics of a thousand-screen circuit.

UNIC, the International Union of Cinemas, is the federation of European exhibitor associations behind it, and its annual data on European admissions and screen counts is usually presented at the convention.

The travel maths is simply better for a European operator: Barcelona in June is reachable and affordable in a way Las Vegas in April is not, and the suppliers on the floor are the ones who will actually sell into your market and support you in your timezone.

It is also the one place each year where the national associations are all in the same building. If your business is affected by a policy question — a levy, a VAT treatment, an accessibility requirement — the people who lobby on it are there and approachable.