Attendance at Spanish movie theaters grew in 2023 for the third consecutive year to reach the figure of 77.8 million spectators, 26% more than in 2022. In this way, the difference with respect to the average attendance figure before The pandemic, 2015-2019, was reduced by 16 points, going from -40% in 2022 to a -24% fall in the sector in 2023. These are positive data reflected in the dossier Movie Theaters: 2023 Data presented this morning by the Federation of Cinemas of Spain (FECE) and the Guild of Cinemas of Catalonia at the Cinema Mooby Balmes in Barcelona.
The other side of the coin is that these numbers are still below pre-pandemic levels: “We trust that in the coming years we will continue this recovery trajectory to reach the levels that we have,” said Jordi Agustí, president of the Guild. of Cinemas of Catalonia. “The industry continues to invest and we are confident that our future is stable and solid. Cinemas have a long life ahead of them,” he added.
During the presentation, the Barbenheimer phenomenon was highlighted, which accelerated the summer box office and generated several relevant milestones: best weekend of the year, from July 21 to 23, with 11.5 million euros in revenue; July 26 as the best day of the year, with more than 900,000 spectators and the second best summer of the last decade. However, the numbers were not maintained throughout the year. “It is very important to promote films so that people talk about cinema and bring the viewer to the theaters,” said Luis Gil Palacios, general director of the FECE, who defended that “cinema is not an algorithm. It is an experience that must be seen in the theaters, away from home”.
If Barbie was the highest-grossing international title, with a collection of 33.7 million euros, followed by Super Mario Bros. The Movie -27.5 million-, Avatar: The Sense of Water -25.4 million- and Oppenheimer – 20.7 million, the comedy Campeonex, by Javier Fesser, rose to number one among the national premieres, with figures of 11.8 million euros.
Regarding the number of active cinemas, Spain has more cinemas open in 2023 than before the pandemic, going from 723 cinemas in 2019 to 751 in 2023. A figure that represents an increase of 2.6% compared to cinemas active in 2022. “More and better equipped rooms are being opened because the sector trusts. The exhibition is making a great effort to meet the demanding demand of the public,” added Gil, who estimated that there were 3,591 Spanish screens (944 of them equipped with technology 3D). The Community of Madrid leads the ranking of the autonomous communities with the highest number of viewers (15.2 million), followed by Catalonia, with 13.7 million and Andalusia (11.6).
On the other hand, Spain ranked third among EU countries last year with the best recovery, behind Italy and the Netherlands. Regarding the situation in Catalonia, Pilar Sierra, director of the Catalan Cinema Guild, commented that there are 600 commercial screens and 95,444,247 million euros were collected, 25.7% more. Viewers stood at 13.7 million, 21% above 2022.
Sierra pointed out that although movie theaters have closed, especially in the city center – the last being Yelmo Comedia last January – others are also opening. “Closing is a difficult decision. People’s habits change and go beyond a business decision,” he said.
Ignasi Camós, general director of the Institute of Cinematography and Audiovisual Arts (ICCA), focused on the need to promote the recovery of the public and named the film festival together with the cultural bonus and senior cinema as great initiatives that have obtained a “very positive” balance. And he announced that they are working “on a new audiovisual literacy proposal that allows teenagers to go to the movies more.”
Camós referred to the fact that the recovery debate is perceived as a favorable trend. “The pandemic radically changed the audiovisual landscape, which has forced exhibitors to reinvent themselves. The important thing is to see that there is a positive trend and the key is programming.”
Although the last few weeks have been very weak for the Spanish box office, the organizers are confident that “there is still a lot of year ahead” and there are very attractive titles such as Dune 2, which opens tomorrow, that can attract the public. “These data are relatively worrying because the evolution of theater attendance depends on the films. In 2022, the second semester was much better than the first,” Sierra recalled.
