Global cinema attendance drops in 2024

AFP | Cannes

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Cinema ticket sales fell 8.8% worldwide in 2024 from the previous year, marking the first annual drop since the Covid pandemic, the European Audiovisual Observatory (EAO) said in Cannes on Friday.

The decline comes after years of recovery for the industry since the collapse triggered by pandemic restrictions in 2020.

"In 2024, a total of 4.8 billion cinema tickets were sold worldwide, generating estimated revenues of 28 billion euros," Martin Kanzler, a film analyst at the EAO, said in a press conference on the sidelines of annual film festival.

"That is 500 million fewer tickets than in 2023.

" Since 2020 -- a disastrous year for cinemas due to health restrictions -- cinema attendance worldwide had been rising.

"Perhaps we have reached a new plateau," Kanzler said.

Cinema attendance is now at 68% of 2019 levels, the last year before the pandemic, compared with more than 70% in 2023.

In this sluggish environment, Europe is faring better than other regions of the world, with cinema attendance at 75% of 2019 levels, and the decline in ticket sales was just 1.7% in 2024. By contrast, in China -- the world’s largest market with a 21% share -- attendance plunged by 22%.

In Europe, two countries stand out for their density of cinemas per capita and a high average attendance rate -- France and Ireland.

Regarding productions, 81% are linked to films produced in three countries -- the United States, China and India, said Manuel Fioroni, an analyst at the EAO.

Unlike Chinese and Indian productions, which are sold almost exclusively to their domestic markets, American films are exported and "cross borders easily thanks to their distribution network but also their international audience".

"Transnational distribution across macro regions remain difficult for theatrical films, with the exception of Hollywood movies, that can travel easily across borders through their distribution network, but also to international audiences," Fioroni said.

In Europe, 63% of cinemagoers saw an American film in 2024.

However, European productions are catching up and recorded a 33% market share.

"And this is the best result in four years, even 10 if we exclude somehow the typical year that was 2020 in the middle of the pandemic," Fioroni said. Of the 20 biggest box office hits in Europe, 18 are American films.

"Inside Out 2", "Despicable Me 4" and "Deadpool & Wolverine" took the top three spots.

The two European productions in the top 20 are both French: "Un p'tit truc en plus" and "Le comte de Monte-Cristo".