Cinemas in Mexico have not recovered even half of their audience

After the pandemic, the confinements and, with them, the bonanza of the audiovisual offer via streaming put the exhibition in cinemas against the ropes, especially in 2020 and 2021, this essential sector of the film industry continues to climb up hill.

From the first day of January to March 31, that is, to the first quarter of 2023, the box office in the country attracted 29 million 881,300 attendees who left a box office spill of 1,933 million 653,447 pesos, according to figures provided by the Chamber National Film Industry (Canacine).

Those 29.8 million attendees until last March represent a figure much higher than what cinemas registered in the first quarter of 2021, at the peak of the second wave of infections in the country, with just 6.7 million.

But it does not compare to the first quarter of 2020, which was able to operate almost entirely without restriction, but with the pandemic on its heels, with a total of 41.8 million viewers. In other words, the number of attendees during the first quarter of 2023, without any restriction, represents 71.5% of the tickets sold in the same period of 2020, with the pandemic about to set in, but already taking over all the news in the world.

The number of spectators from January to March 2023 is much less compared to the numbers for the same period in 2019: 71.7 million attendees. This corresponds to just 41.7% of the number of audiences that entered movie theaters in the first quarter of 2019.

Ticket price and movie theaters open

Given all this panorama, it is necessary to point out that the average price for each movie ticket has been increasing over the years. In 2015, the average price per unit was 46.5 pesos, while in 2022 the price was 66.1 pesos, that is, an entrance ticket to a movie theater increased almost 20 pesos in seven years. But the largest increase occurred from 2019, when the cost was 54.2 pesos, that is, between 2019 and 2022, the price for a movie ticket increased by almost 12 pesos, 18% of its value.

Another factor to consider within this panorama are the theaters that did not stop operating compared to those that were closed, temporarily or permanently, during this impasse that has put seventh art exhibitors in our country to the test like never before.

According to Canacine, in 2019 there were 7,461 theaters operating in the country and in 2020, despite the emergency in full swing, more screens were added for a total of 7,525.

However, it was in 2021 that the most serious ravages of the emergency began to be seen, with the closure of 273 theaters in the republic (for a total of 7,252). In 2022, with the relaxation of the measures, 219 rooms could be recovered for a total of 7,471 active screens, 54 less than in 2019.

Added to this perfect storm that is overwhelming exhibitors is the irruption of the streaming offer (HBO-Max, Disney+, Vix, for example) between 2020 and 2022.

Other information to consider

Although, with 182 million tickets sold, Mexico regained the fourth place among the countries with the highest number of tickets sold in 2022, after India (981 million), China (709 million) and the United States (699 million), our country it was relegated to the 37th place of the nations with growth in ticket sales compared to the previous year. This growth in Mexico was barely 60%, a minimum compared to other countries, such as Peru, with a 317% recovery, Turkey (278%), Chile (212%) or Uruguay (171%).

In 2019, Mexico ranked ninth among the countries with the highest box office, with 996 million pesos generated, but in 2022 the country was ranked eleventh, with 607 million pesos, despite the increase in the average price per ticket. indicated above.

Within this whole equation, the evident decrease in the economic contribution of Mexican cinema released on commercial screens also comes into play. While in 2019 national cinema generated 1,767 million pesos, for 2022 the contribution was barely 390 million pesos, that is, the participation of national cinema in the general commercial box office fell 88% between 2019 and 2022.

What is the failure in the strategies of the commercial exhibitors of our country to have a poor recovery? Will geographical, cultural or economic conditions come into play?

ricardo.quiroga@eleconomista.mx