In 2022, there were six cinema establishments with a total of 23 screens and a seating capacity of 3,910 (Tables 1 and 2). Of these six cinemas, two were situated in Gozo.
A total of 376 film titles and 27,189 screenings were exhibited in 2022, amounting to an average of 72 screenings per film (Table 4a). Last year, cinemas registered a total of 460,244 admissions. Maltese productions, many of which belonged to the short films rather than the feature films category, had 15,159 admissions with a total gross box office of €85,478 in 505 screenings. On the other hand, foreign productions, which besides the traditional feature films also included event cinema, had 445,085 admissions with a total gross box office of €3,299,633 in 26,684 screenings (Table 4a).
During 2022, cinema audiences had a choice of 376 distinct shows, of which the majority were fiction films. These films attracted over 77.4 per cent of total admissions. (Table 8). The most popular film titles were ‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ and ‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ amounting to 7.1 per cent, 6.1 per cent and 5.9 per cent of total admissions respectively (Table 9).
In terms of age classification, most films shown in cinemas were rated as ‘12A’ and ‘15’. 44.9 per cent of the films projected in 2022 were rated as ‘12A’, while 29.3 per cent were rated as ‘15’. On the other hand, only 3.5 per cent were rated as ‘18’ (Table 10).
The running time of 52.9 per cent of the films projected in 2022 fell within the 76 to 120 minutes bracket (Table 11). As per type of screening, the ‘Live/Encore’ type of screenings, including operas, ballets, and theatre, had the longest running time with an average of 161 minutes. On the other hand, documentaries and animation were the shortest, with both genres averaging a running time of 78 minutes (Chart 2). With reference to the number of staff members, last year, cinemas were found to be employing an average of 95 persons, of which the majority were engaged on a part-time basis (Table 12).
Chart 1. Screenings by country of origin of film
per cent
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Chart 2. Average running time by type of film
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- There were six cinema establishments with 23 screens in total.
- Gross box office receipts amounted to €3,385,111.
- The most popular film titles were ‘Minions: The Rise of Gru’, ‘Top Gun: Maverick’ and ‘Jurassic World: Dominion’ amounting to 7.1 per cent, 6.1 per cent and 5.9 per cent of total admissions respectively.
- Maltese productions, many of which belonged to the short films rather than the feature films category, had 15,159 admissions with a total gross box office of €85,478.
- In terms of running time, the majority of the films, 52.9 per cent of the total, were between 76 to 120 minutes long.
- ‘Live/Encore’ type of screenings, including operas, ballets, and theatre, had the longest running time of all genres shown in cinemas.
Additional Tables and Charts
Methodological Notes
A cinema establishment is defined as a fixed commercial business installation primarily engaged in the commercial projection of cinematographic audio-visual works (in 35mm and/or digital format using a minimum of 1.3K resolution), through a regular film programming schedule and ticketing system.
2. Information in this news release was obtained through a survey carried out among all active cinema establishments in Malta and Gozo during reference year 2022.
3. In this survey:
● a film title refers to a single film that is screened across the various cinema establishments;
● a film show, also includes feature films; short films; opera, ballet and theatre performances broadcasted from foreign theatres; music concerts broadcasted from abroad; and art exhibitions on screen etc.;
● a screening refers to the number of times a film title is shown in the Maltese Islands irrespective of the cinema establishment which projects it.
4. Film details were verified with the Europa Cinemas and IMDB websites.
5. The survey is dependent on the information provided to the NSO by respondents. While every effort has been made to minimise the extent of under-reporting, the NSO is not responsible for inaccuracies that may emerge as a result of such under-reporting.
6. Totals may not add up due to rounding.
7. The data in this release should be considered as final, although minor revisions may be necessary subject to further provision of data.
8. A detailed news release calendar is available online.
9. For further assistance, please submit your query through our online request form.
