Global cinema attendance drops in 2024

CANNES

Cinema ticket sales fell 8.8 percent worldwide in 2024 from the previous year, marking the first annual drop since the COVID-19 pandemic, the European Audiovisual Observatory (EAO) said in Cannes on May 15.

The decline comes after years of recovery for the industry since the collapse triggered by pandemic restrictions in 2020.

"In 2024, a total of 4.8 billion cinema tickets were sold worldwide, generating estimated revenues of 28 billion euros," Martin Kanzler, a film analyst at the EAO, said in a press conference.

Cinema attendance is now at 68 percent of 2019 levels, the last year before the pandemic, compared with more than 70 percent in 2023.

In this sluggish environment, Europe is faring better than other regions of the world, with cinema attendance at 75 percent of 2019 levels, and the decline in ticket sales was just 1.7 percent in 2024.

By contrast, in China, the world's largest market with a 21 percent share, attendance plunged by 22 percent.

In Europe, two countries stand out for their density of cinemas per capita and a high average attendance rate — France and Ireland.