Admissions decreased by 8.2% compared to 2024, while revenues fell by 3.9% year on year, in a record-low season for Portuguese cinemas despite an increase in the number of films released

O Pátio da Saudade by Leonel Vieira

Portuguese cinemas registered their weakest performance of the century in 2025, excluding the Covid-19 years, with admissions falling to 10.9 million, an 8.2% decrease compared to 2024.

According to figures released by the country’s film institute ICA and national statistics office INE, this marks the lowest attendance since 1996, when 10.4 million tickets were sold. This decline confirms a long-term structural contraction in theatrical audiences, despite a steady flow of releases.

Box-office revenues also dipped, though less sharply, reaching €70.5 million in 2025, down 3.9% year on year. The softer fall in earnings compared to admissions reflects continued ticket-price inflation, which has partially offset shrinking footfall.

Paradoxically, the number of films released increased. A total of 406 films reached Portuguese screens in 2025, up from 393 the previous year. Of these, 54 were domestic productions, accounting for 13.3% of total releases—an indicator of sustained local production activity, even as audience demand weakens.

Family-oriented films dominated the annual charts. Disney’s Lilo & Stitch topped the box office with 667,000 admissions, followed by A Minecraft Movie (503,000) and Zootopia 2 (428,000), underlining the sector’s growing reliance on child and family audiences. The only Portuguese-language title to enter the top ten was Walter Salles’ Oscar winning drama I’m Still Here [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile] (Brazil/France), which drew 385,000 viewers.

Among national productions, Leonel Vieira’s O Pátio da Saudade emerged as the most successful Portuguese film of the year, selling approximately 69,000 tickets—well below the threshold required to meaningfully impact overall market performance.

Exhibition chains experienced uneven results. Cineplace, which shuttered several venues during 2025, reported losses exceeding 30% in both admissions and revenue. Market leader NOS Lusomundo Cinemas sold 7.1 million tickets, an 8.1% decline, while box-office income fell 3.5% to €48.2 million, mirroring the national trend.

Looking at them altogether, the figures point to a difficult adjustment phase for the Portuguese theatrical sector, where increased supply and stable production levels are no longer sufficient to counterbalance persistent audience erosion.