Audience recovery: how far are we from 2019?

The outlook is not encouraging: in most parts of the world, between a quarter and a little less than a half of the pre-pandemic audience has been lost
by Elisabetta Brunella

Nearly 780 million Europeans crossed the threshold of a movie theatre in 2024.
The latest data, covering 32 markets - from Iceland to Turkey, from Georgia to Portugal - suggests that movie theatres across Europe managed to limit the decline in attendance, even during a year when the turbulence in the US film industry had repercussions across much of the world.

The overall drop in attendance averaged 2.1%: an encouraging sign of stabilization, largely driven by the strong performance of local production in several markets. It’s certainly a positive signal, but we must not forget that the real goal is to recover, and ideally surpass, the attendance levels of 2019, a year that saw record figures in multiple territories. In short, the real benchmark for cinema consumption trends remains the gap compared to 2019.

On average, across the 32 European markets analyzed, 26 out of every 100 moviegoers have yet to return. This figure is an average of very different national situations: while Bulgaria, Romania, and France still need to regain about 15% of their audiences, in other markets the recovery is proving to be much more challenging.

This is the case, for example, of Turkey, where more than 40% of the pre-pandemic audience has yet to return.

Beyond Europe: a look at global cinema trends

2024 FIGURES IN CHINA

Let’s begin our journey in China. The world’s second-largest market after the United States ended 2024 in the red: audience numbers dropped by just over 22%, and revenues declined by a similar rate. This indicates that ticket prices remained stable.

The past year was marked by a decline in domestic film production, which some analysts view as one of the causes behind the downturn in cinema attendance, alongside the import of fewer American films.
However, there were still some noteworthy developments, starting with the year’s box office champion. That title goes to “Yolo”, a comedy directed by and starring Ling Jia: it marks the first time a woman has topped the Chinese box office. The top-performing US title in China was the co-production with Australia, “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire”, which landed in ninth place.

But how does the situation compare to 2019? The answer lies in box office revenue: compared to the pre-pandemic year, Chinese grosses were down 34% in 2024.

2024 FIGURES IN JAPAN

The picture was significantly more positive in Japan, which closed 2024 with a modest 7% drop in admissions and a roughly 6.5% decline in gross box office, indicating a stable average ticket price.

In the Land of the Rising Sun, the truly remarkable figure from the past year was the performance of domestic films, which captured a record 73.5% market share, an exceptional result approaching the heights reached during the pandemic, when local productions came close to 80%.

Unsurprisingly, no fewer than 31 Japanese films, led by the 27th anime installment featuring Detective Conan, surpassed the 10 billion yen mark in box office revenue. By contrast, only 10

American films achieved the same milestone, despite the number of US releases being similar to that of Japanese productions.

In this highly competitive market, where three new titles debut each day, additional content made a strong showing in 2024, accounting for over 12% of total gross box office revenue (approximately $159 million out of $1.3 billion).

With the 2024 results in, Japan is still -26% behind 2019 in terms of admissions. Significantly, that year marked not only the pre-pandemic baseline but also an all-time attendance record, with 194 million tickets sold compared to 144 million in 2024.

2024 FIGURES IN SOUTH KOREA

South Korean productions also experienced a particularly favorable moment in their domestic market: their market share rose to 58%, a significant increase from the 48.6% recorded in 2023.

Unsurprisingly, the two top-grossing titles were Korean, “Exhuma” and “The Roundup: Punishment”, which pushed the ever-present “Inside Out 2” into third place.

Overall, South Korean cinemas saw a slight dip in audience numbers (around -1.6%), but the gap compared to the pre-pandemic record remains wide: over 45 out of every 100 moviegoers are still missing.

Nevertheless, this market continues to boast a relatively high per capita attendance rate (2.4), although it has lost the prestigious position on the global podium it held in 2019, when the average Korean went to the cinema 4.4 times per year.

In terms of revenue, 2024 saw a decline of over -5%, placing South Korea in contrast to most major markets, where ticket prices either held steady or rose significantly.

2024 FIGURES IN THE US

That’s precisely what happened in the United States: while the drop in audience attendance was quite pronounced (-7%), revenue declined by only 4%, thanks to higher ticket prices. The average ticket now costs just over $11, compared to around $9 in the prepandemic period. Compared to that time, 38 out of every 100 moviegoers are still missing from US theaters.

In short, the major challenges facing cinemas today are balancing the books, where higher ticket prices can play a role, and, above all, winning back the audiences they’ve lost.

It’s a troubling scenario, with the gap compared to 2019 ranging from a little less than a quarter to half of the moviegoers from the “good old B.(before) C.(ovid) days”.

This article was published in the Cannes special issue of Cinema & Video Int'l, the MEDIA Salles media partner.