The non-profit business associations representing more than 80% of Spanish cinema owners, Federation of Spanish Cinemas (FECE) and the Gremi de Cinemes de Catalunya, presented the dossier Las salas de cine: datos 2023 at the end of February, which offers an insight into the sector’s current situation. It details how, for the third year in a row cinema attendance increased compared to the previous year, reaching 77.8 million viewers, 26% more than in 2022, and box office takings were 504.5 million euros. The gap compared to the pre-pandemic 2015-2019 average attendance rate was reduced by 16% from -40% in 2022 to -24% in 2023.

Last year was also undoubtedly marked in Spain by the American blockbusters Barbie and Oppenheimer [+lire aussi :
critique
bande-annonce
fiche film] and the coinciding of these two premieres at the box office created major milestones: best weekend of the year, from 21 to 23 July, with 11.5 million euros in takings; best day of the year (26 July) with more than 900,000 viewers in a single day; and the second best summer of the last decade.

Alongside this phenomenon, titles such as The Super Mario Bros. Movie and Avatar: The Way of Water, both of which grossed more than 20 million euros. But in terms of Spanish cinema, Championext [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film], a sports comedy directed by Javier Fesser, stood out as the most watched feature film in cinemas, with almost two million viewers and takings of 11.8 million. It also came eighth out of all films released in Spain, ahead of American productions such as The Little Mermaid and the latest instalment of the Indiana Jones franchise. It is followed on the box-office podium by other Spanish comedy films, such as Ocho apellidos marroquís by Álvaro Fernández Armero (with a gross of 8.2 million euros), Vacaciones de verano [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film] (the reliable box-office hitter Santiago Segura: €7.4m), the animated film Mummies by Juan Jesús García Galocha (€5.6m) and ¡Vaya vacaciones! [+lire aussi :
bande-annonce
fiche film] by Víctor García León (€4.8m).

In terms of the number of active cinemas, Spain has more cinemas open in 2023 than before the pandemic, from 723 in 2019 to 751 in 2023. This figure also represents an increase of 2.6% compared to the number of active cinemas in 2022. The Community of Madrid, with 15.2 million cinema-goers, leads the ranking of the Autonomous Communities with the largest audience, followed by Catalonia, with 13.7 million viewers, and Andalusia, with 11.6 million.

Finally, it should be noted that campaigns such as Fiesta del cine, Bono Cultural Joven and the campaign aimed at promoting cinema attendance for people over 65 (Cine Senior), have helped to improve cinema attendance in 2023.

The FECE report, in Spanish, is available by clicking here.