Portuguese cinemas welcomed 12.3 million spectators in 2023, which represents an increase of 27.8% over the previous year, with 2.6 million more admissions, the Cinema and Audiovisual Institute (ICA) revealed today.
Provisional data on cinema consumption on a commercial circuit in 2023 also indicates that gross box office revenue increased by 31.6% compared to 2022, i.e. by 17.4 million euros (ME) to a total of 72.8 ME.
These increases signify a clear recovery in theatrical exhibition since the covid-19 pandemic, but if you exclude the years marked by lockdowns and theater closures (2020-2021), the data also shows that the audience and box office revenue are at the level of exhibition between 2014 and 2015.
In 2014-2015, there were between 12 million and 14.5 million spectators and between 62.7 million and 75 million euros in revenue, respectively. The ICA’s figures for 2019, the last year before the lockdown caused by the pandemic, point to 15.5 million spectators and box office revenue of around 83.1 million euros.
In 2023, exhibitors promoted 541,911 screenings in 565 cinemas. One in four cinemas was located in the Lisbon district.
NOS Lusomundo Cinemas maintained its leadership of the cinema exhibition market in Portugal, with 49.5ME in box office revenue, or 68% of the market share, but in 2023 it lost its leadership in the area of film distribution to Cinemundo.
This distributor totaled 30 ME in revenue and five million spectators in 2023, in particular for having premiered the three most profitable and watched films that year in Portugal: “Barbie”, “Furious Speed X” and “Oppenheimer”.
Cinemundo’s share, which operates only in distribution, was 41.3%, while NOS Lusomundo’s was 38.5%, with 28 ME in revenues and 4.73 million viewers.
Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie” had 893,787 spectators and 5.2 million euros in revenue, Louis Leterrier’s “Furious Speed X”, which had scenes filmed in Portugal, had 691,439 spectators and 4.2 million euros at the box office, and Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” had 552,332 admissions and 3.7 million euros.
The most watched Portuguese film in 2023 was Manuel Pureza’s “Pôr do Sol: O mistério do colar de São Cajó”, with 118,671 spectators and around 693,000 euros in box office revenue.
According to ICA, 47 Portuguese-produced films were released in 2023, earning 1.5ME in revenue and being seen by 328,762 spectators. These figures represent a 2.1% and 2.7% share of total revenue and viewers, respectively.
In 2023, 98 films were produced with financial support from ICA, the second highest figure in a decade. In 2022, 101 works were produced. In 2014, only 27 works were produced.
