Deal with Hollywood studios over dubbed Catalan films never fulfilled

The release of films in Catalan and the number of viewers for these films have been stagnant for years.  

In 2011, the Catalan government signed an agreement with major Hollywood studios and the Cinema Association of Catalonia to release 25 films dubbed in Catalan each year.  

The agreement with the 'big five' studios - Universal Pictures, Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros., Walt Disney Studios and Sony Pictures - has consistently fallen short.  

In fact, the highest number of films dubbed into Catalan in a single year was 16, achieved in 2012, the year after the agreement was signed.

The agreement aimed to increase the audience share of Catalan dubbed films from 3% to a projected 35% by 2017.

More than a decade later, both the availability of films in Catalan and the audience numbers remain at around 3%.

Francesc Xavier Vila, secretary of linguistic policy, attributed the failure to meet the agreement to the Covid-19 pandemic and the Hollywood actors' and studios' strike in 2023.

The Big Five studios dubbed a total of 136 blockbusters into Catalan between 2012 and 2024, averaging around 10 films per year, well below the agreed 25.

 From 2017 to 2021, screenings of Catalan-dubbed films in cinemas consistently accounted for about 3% of all screenings.

In 2023, approximately 434,000 tickets were sold in Catalonia for films in Catalan, either originally in Catalan or dubbed or subtitled, compared to 13 million tickets sold for films in Spanish, maintaining the 3% ratio.  

Only in 2022, with the release of 'Alcarràs,' this figure temporarily rose to 5%.

To learn more about the success of the Catalan film Alcarràs, which won the Berlinale's Golden Bear, and the life of its director, Carla Simón, listen to this episode of our podcast Filling the Sink.