Québec, February 27, 2020. – Québec movie theatres welcomed 18.8 million spectators in 2019. This represents a decrease of 1.7% from 2018 and 2.4% from the previous five-year average. As a result, box-office revenues ($157.8 million) were down 1%. These results come from the Film Screening Survey conducted by the Observatoire de la culture et des communications of the Institut de la statistique du Québec.
Movie theatre attendance and annual change, Québec, 2010–2019p
p: Preliminary data.
Source: Institut de la statistique du Québec, Observatoire de la culture et des communications du Québec.
Trends in market share of films
Movie theatre attendance was down overall by 0.3 million admissions compared to 2018. The drop in attendance for U.S. films (-0.9 million admissions) and Québec films (-0.3 million) was partially offset by the success of French films (+0.2 million admissions), British films (+0.1 million) and films of the“other countries” category (+0.5 million).
Québec films accounted for 7.9% of all movie theatre admissions in 2019, less than in 2018 (9.2%) and below the average for 2015–2019 (9.0%). Both Québec film admissions ($1.5 million) and revenues ($11.7 million) decreased by 15.8% and 12.8% respectively from 2018. Québec-film screenings had an occupancy rate of 13.6%, up from 2018 (12.0%) and above the occupancy rate for all screenings of non-Québec films (9.7%).
Increasing weight of films at the top of the charts
Of the few hundred new films released in Québec movie theatres in 2019, the ten most viewed films accounted for 34% of the year's 18.8 million admissions, an increase from 2018 (28%). Of these ten films, five are adventure films and two are animated films. Adventure films, which generated 31% of admissions and stood out thanks to the success of productions such as Avengers: Endgame and The Lion King, remained the most popular genre for a fifth consecutive year.
These figures were drawn from Issue 69 of Optique culture, a bulletin found on the website of the Observatoire de la culture et des communications du Québec.
The Institut de la statistique du Québec produces, analyzes and disseminates official, objective and quality statistical information on various aspects of Québec society. It is responsible for conducting all statistical surveys of general interest. The relevance of its work makes it a strategic ally for decision makers and all those wishing to learn more about Québec.