Hollywood blockbusters boost cinema audiences in Spain

DESPITE the ever increasing viewing offer on the small sceen, cinema audiences in Spain increased by a healthy eight per cent in 2019.

There were more than 105 million visits to Spanish cinemas last year, up from 97.8 million in 2018, according to provisional findings from the Comscore consultancy.

Global box office takings went up seven per cent to €624.1 million.

Madrid and Barcelona accounted for 19.6 and 13.1 per cent of cinema-goers respectively.

Valencia represented a further 6.2 per cent, Alicante 4.1 per cent, Malaga 3.79 per cent, Murcia 3.14 per cent and the Balearic Islands 2.8 per cent.

The Comscore findings were on the negative side for the home-grown film industry. Spanish-made movies attracted only 15.9 million spectators, a drop of 15 per cent. This was the worst figure for six years and the first time in that period that box office takings for Spanish productions failed to get up to €100 million.

Hollywood blockbusters proved to be the biggest pulls for Spanish movie-goers. Disney’s The Lion King was the biggest film of the year, with 6.3 million spectators and takings of €32.7 million.

Psychological thriller Joker was ranked second: it was watched by 5.1 million and took in €30 million.

Making up the rest of the top five were Avengers: Engame, Aladdin and Toy Story 4.