Andre Rieu concert breaks European box office records

On the eve of its screening in Australia this weekend, violinist and conductor André Rieu’s 2015 Maastricht Concert set new box office records in the UK, Ireland, Netherlands and Denmark last weekend.

It drew a total of 150,000 fans to the cinemas in these countries,

In the UK it broke single night and lifetime box office records for a music concert in the UK and Ireland after taking £1,028,217 (A$2.1 million) on Saturday night. It screened on 450 locations and was the third-highest grossing film behind Ant-Man and Minions. It broke records set by Take That Live in June and One Direction: Where We Are - The Concert Film.

Another screening in 54 cinemas the day after took the current UK/Ireland box office gross to  £1,086,398 ($2.3 million), a lifetime record for a music concert.

The concert also screened in Belgium, Romania, Germany and Finland, bringing the estimated European box office figure to £1.4 million ($2.96 million) for the weekend in a total of 195 cinemas, said Australian/UK distributor CinemaLive.

Its CEO and co-director Peter Skillman, said: “This once again proves audiences’ appetite to see high-quality music concerts and arts productions in a cinema environment, demonstrating that a theatrical release is a viable revenue stream in an artist’s or producer’s overall offering to fans”.

According to media reports, CinemaLive is thought to be distributing the performance of Verdi’s Aida on Sydney Harbour later this year.

It is a Rieu tradition to play a series of concerts in his hometown of Maastricht in The Netherlands every year where he is joined by his 60-piece Johann Strauss Orchestra, sopranos, tenors and guests.

The 2015 Maastricht Concert is screened in Australia on July Saturday 25 and Sunday 26. It will be through 42 cinemas in NSW, 33 in Queensland, 29 in Victoria, 10 in WA, four in Tasmania, 9 in SA, and two each in the ACT and NT. See full list of cinemas at http://www.cinemalive.com.

It will then be screened in Canada, USA, Mexico, Brazil, Chile and Argentina.

After selling 40 million albums, 65-year-old Rieu lives in a 1452 castle and owns some of the most expensive violins in the world. He once had the second violin built by Stradivarius and currently plays one made in 1667. Last month he splashed out on a high performance Tesla Model S car which costs 65,300 euros in Europe and almost $100,000 in Australia.