Box office growth frames Valladolid industry debate over screen access, release windows and reaching audiences Spain’s indie film distributors are flexing growing box office muscle — and attracting a broader range of buyers to Valladolid’s Merci market. Presented at Merci, Rentrak figures showed that members of Adicine, Spain’s leading association of independent film distributors, saw box office receipts rise 45% through September. Elastica Films’ “La Bola Negra,” released Sept. 25, has since added to that momentum with its blockbuster theatrical run.
Yet stronger returns have not eased the battle for screens. At Merci’s sixth edition, distributors, exhibitors and streaming executives confronted crowded release calendars, last-minute bookings and a theatrical market increasingly reliant on a handful of hits. Neither audiences nor cinemas can absorb that,” warned Wanda Visión’s Miguel Morales at the Merci roundtable “Cinemas, Distributors and Platforms: Together for Audiences.” Morales pointed to Spanish and French comedies that once drew 100,000 admissions but now struggle to reach 10,000.
Screen bookings, he added, can remain unconfirmed until the week before release, undermining publicity campaigns. That’s not healthy either,” said Beta Fiction Spain CEO Mercedes Gamero. Our space is finite,” she said.
Exhibitors and platforms agreed that a theatrical run creates value beyond ticket sales, but differed on how long films should remain exclusive to cinemas. His platform premieres around 280 films a year, roughly 180 of them independent, yet cannot accommodate everything offered. Those exclusive windows, sharply shortened during the pandemic, have gradually lengthened again, according to Octavio Alzola, programming and marketing director at arthouse cinema chain Cines Renoir.
Filmin COO and co-founder José Antonio de Luna raised the risk of piracy when a title leaves theaters but remains unavailable legally for months. A striking example of cooperation came from Oliver Laxe’s “Sirât,” which was still playing at Cines Renoir when Movistar Plus started promoting its forthcoming streaming premiere. The campaign brought more people into theaters.
Merci is attracting more buyers from broadcasters and streaming platforms, including executives with the authority to acquire films. Held Oct. 28-30 at Valladolid’s Broadway cinemas and organized by the Valladolid Film Festival, known locally as Seminci, and Adicine, the market drew an estimated 215 professionals, up from 190 last year. Buyers followed a slate of 26 films set for Spanish theatrical release between late 2026 and mid-2027.
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