Cinema Statistics: 2023
In 2023, there were six cinema establishments with a total of 23 screens and a seating capacity of 3,881 (Tables 1 and 2). Of these six cinemas, two were situated in Gozo.
A total of 385 film titles and 30,742 screenings were exhibited in 2023, amounting to an average of 80 screenings per film. Last year, cinemas registered a total of 594,087 admissions. Maltese productions many of which belonged to the short films rather than the feature films category, had 4,884 admissions with a total gross box office of €20,457 in 143 screenings. On the other hand, foreign productions, which besides the traditional feature films also included event cinema, had 589,203 admissions with a total gross box office of €4,488,290 in 30,599 screenings (Table 4a).
During 2023, cinema audiences had a choice of 385 distinct shows, the majority of which were fiction films. These films attracted 73.8 per cent of total admissions. (Table 8).
The most popular film titles were ‘Barbie’, ‘The Little Mermaid’ and ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie’, which accounted for 8.8 per cent, 4.7 per cent and an additional 4.7 per cent of total admissions respectively (Table 9).
The majority of films shown in cinemas were rated as ‘12A’ or ‘15’ in terms of age classification. 28.1 per cent of the films projected in 2023 were rated ‘12A’, while 35.1 per cent were rated ‘15’ . On the other hand, only 7.0 per cent were rated ‘18’ (Table 10).
The running time of 61.0 per cent of the films projected in 2023 fell within the 76 to 120 minutes bracket (Table 11). The ‘Live/Encore’ screenings which include operas, ballets, and theatre, had the longest running time with an average of 150 minutes. On the other hand, animation films had the shortest running time with an average of 87 minutes (Chart 6).
Last year cinemas employed an average of 110 persons, with the majority 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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Cinema Statistics: 2023
- There were six cinema establishments with 23 screens in total.
- Gross box office receipts amounted to €4,508,747.
- The most popular film titles were ‘Barbie’, ‘The Little Mermaid’ and ‘The Super Mario Bros. Movie which accounted for 8.8 per cent, 4.7 per cent and an additional 4.7 per cent of total admissions respectively.
- Maltese productions, many of which belonged to the short films rather than the feature films category, had 4,884 admissions with a total gross box office of €20,457.
- The majority of the films (61.0 per cent of the total) had a running time between 76 to 120 minutes. ‘Fiction (non-Animation)’ type of screenings amounted to 72.5 per cent of all genres shown in cinemas as first-time releases.
Cinema Statistics: 2023
Tables
Tables
Methodological Notes
1. 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 the reference year 2023.
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. References to this news release are to be cited appropriately. For guidance on access and re-use of data please visit our dedicated webpage.
10. For further assistance send your request through our online request form.
