Christopher Hughes
Research expert covering Australia and New Zealand
Cinema and film industry in Australia - statistics & facts
The Australian cinema industry is one of the largest in the world in terms of revenue, generating around nine hundred million U.S. dollars in box office revenue and around 2.5 billion U.S. dollars from the wider filmed entertainment industry annually. Since the coronavirus pandemic and its resulting lockdowns, social distancing and closures, Australian cinemas themselves have enjoyed steady and consistent recovery.
Another factor that can be considered to have played a part in keeping attendance up and ticket prices down is the continued dominance of independently owned cinema screens across the country. In 2023, there were 660 cinema screens that were owned by independent parties in Australia, which translates to an exhibitor market share of around 30 percent.
Avatar remains the highest-grossing film
At the box office in Australia, Avatar remained the highest grossing film of all time, generating around 115 million Australian dollars in box office revenue, echoing its worldwide performance. By comparison, the next two all-time highest grossing films Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Avengers: Endgame grossed around 94 million and 84 million Australian dollars respectively.Attendance at Australian cinemas remains solid
Australian cinemas themselves achieved attendance figures of 59 percent in 2023, an increase from the preceding year. Despite this growth, however, attendance is yet to fully recover to pre pandemic levels. This attendance figure can perhaps, in part, be attributed to the average price of a cinema ticket in the same year, which grew by a small amount to just under 17 Australian dollars.Another factor that can be considered to have played a part in keeping attendance up and ticket prices down is the continued dominance of independently owned cinema screens across the country. In 2023, there were 660 cinema screens that were owned by independent parties in Australia, which translates to an exhibitor market share of around 30 percent.
Who is going to the cinema?
The average number of visits to the cinema peaked in 2017, reaching 8.6 visits over an average three months. The dominant age group amongst cinema patrons were those aged 50 and over. This has been subject to only minor fluctuations of one to three percent in recent years. In terms of the gender of cinema goers, this remains largely even between male and female visitors across all age ranges.
