The Romanian cinematographic market has started the recovery from the declines faced during the pandemic but is still far from the figures recorded between 2016 and 2019, according to a Cushman & Wakefield Echinox study.
In total, in 2021 and 2021, the cinemas had 7.9 million spectators, representing 60% of the annual average recorded in the period 2016-2019 of about 13 million spectators.
In 2020, the first year of the pandemic, that figure fell to 3.3 million visitors, followed in 2021 an increase to almost 4,7 million visits, representing a monthly average of 391,000 viewers.
In 2020, the frequency of visits per capita decreased from 0.68 to 0.17, followed by an increase in 2021 to the level of 0.24.
At the end of 2021, 90 cinemas were opened in Romania, down from 98 in 2019. Actually, in 2019 Romania registered the largest number of multiplex cinemas operational in the history of modern local retail.
The gross box-office of cinema operators followed the same trajectory, recording a maximum level in 2017 (266.5 million lei, respectively 58.3 million euros), followed by a decrease in 2018 (262, 9 million lei, 56.5 million euros). In 2019, the gross box-office increased compared to 2018 but remained below the 2017 level.
At the same time, movie ticket prices in Romania has steadily increased. If in 2013, the average price of a ticket was 17.74 lei, in 2021 the average price of cinema tickets reached 21.71 lei.