Ice Age 3, a 3D animation, has sold more than a million tickets this year to become the most-watched film in Swiss cinemas.

More than 550,000 tickets were sold to Swiss films – almost 100,000 more than the previous year – largely thanks to Giulias Verschwinden (Julia’s Disappearance) , which sold 135,000 on its own.

Nevertheless Nicolas Bideau, head of films at the Federal Culture Office, said one could only start talking of a success from Swiss films when at least a million tickets were sold.

Swiss cinemas were around ten per cent fuller in 2009 than 2008, according to provisional statistics released by ProCinema, the national film distribution association, and the Federal Statistics Office on Thursday.

By mid-December about 14.3 million tickets had been sold – roughly two per inhabitant. This corresponds to the annual average since records were introduced in 1995, but 2008 was an exceptionally poor year – with excuses ranging from the weather to the Swiss-hosted Euro 2008 football tournament.

Behind Ice Age 3, which became only the fifth film ever to sell more than one million tickets in Switzerland, was Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (479,000 tickets) and Slumdog Millionaire (464,000 tickets).

swissinfo.ch and agencies

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative