Documentaries have emerged as one of the key genres in the European film industry, according to the study “Documentaries in cinema and on VOD – Insights into production and distribution trends 2016-2025″ by the European Audiovisual Observatory. They account for almost one in five films released in cinemas; production has risen above pre-pandemic levels, and Europe has established itself as the driving force of the market.
The report, written by Nicolas Edmery, examines admissions in 50 markets worldwide, including 35 European countries, and shows that seven in ten documentaries released between 2022 and 2025 were European films, accounting on average for 51% of the genre’s admissions. In European cinemas alone, films produced on the continent reach 84% of documentary admissions, and in 2025, European documentaries sold around 10 million tickets, regaining ground faster than documentaries produced in the rest of the world.
In Italy, according to Cinetel data, 2025 was the best year ever for the genre, with €11.68 million in box office, 1.55 million admissions and 419 new releases. The titles released in more than fifty cinemas made the biggest difference: just 11.5% of the total, they generated over 91% of box office revenue. Following the same trend, 2026 has raised the bar even further with Naza by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor. After a successful opening, by 10 November the film had passed €5.42 million and 719,000 admissions, becoming the second highest-grossing documentary ever in Italy, behind only Fahrenheit 9/11 (€8.9 million), and the third by admissions.
On the production side, an average of 1,341 theatrical documentaries are made each year, 9% more than before the pandemic, and 896 are released, with France and Italy leading among European countries (120 and 99 titles a year). These are films with modest budgets, averaging €500,000 compared with €3.2 million for fiction, and closely tied to domestic audiences, which account for 62% of admissions.
Europe also carries significant weight in digital distribution. Documentaries make up 20% of titles in VOD catalogues, and more than half of them (56%) are European, compared with 33% from the United States. When counting their presence across national catalogues, however, the shares come closer (43% versus 42%), a sign that international circulation still has room to develop. On the major SVOD platforms in the nine European countries analysed (Germany, Italy, Spain, France, Sweden, the Netherlands, Poland, Denmark and Finland), the genre accounts for 3% of viewing time, with 80% of those hours spent on series. European works nevertheless capture 40% of documentary viewing, almost double their share in fiction. Preferences also differ from those in cinemas: in theatres, nature documentaries lead (35% of admissions among the decade’s biggest hits), while on streaming, crime and disaster titles dominate (47% of viewing hours in 2025).
The next big release comes from the United States with You Can See Everything, Nathan Fielder and Lance Oppenheim’s documentary about Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos. Released by A24, it has grossed around $79.4 million in North America, and I Wonder Pictures will bring it to Italian cinemas on 27, 28 and 29 November.
Photo credit: Jakob Owens via Unsplash
