Australia’s cinema audience has declined for a second year running as ticket sales continued to fall in 2014.
Aussie box office revenue fell by 2.3 percent in 2014 as ticket sales dropped to $78.5 million, down from a 2010 peak of $92 million and 2013’s figure of $82 million.
While Australia’s box office revenue remained at a stable $1.074 billion last year, it has suffered a significant fall from its record 2010 of $1.128 billion.
According to the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia (MPDAA), Australia fared well next to the comparable US and UK markets, however key demographics have shied away from the cinema experience.
“We are seeing some age groups, particularly the older set, going to the cinema more often while the numbers are falling elsewhere, especially teenage males,” MPDAA chairman Stephen Basil-Jones told IF.com.au.
“The young male audience is driven by blockbusters and the mid-range films which used to gross $5 million- $8 million are falling away.
“As an industry we do need to do some more work and analysis to get those people back to cinemas more often.”
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 was the No.1 film released in Australia in 2014, selling $32.8 million in ticket sales (down from the $37 million Catching Fire made the year before), coming in ahead of The Lego Movie and Transformers: Age of Extinction, which grossed $29.8 million and $26.7 million respectively.
The 39 Australian releases of 2014 grossed just $26.1 million for a market share of 2.43%, down 3.51% from the year before.
Optimism remains high for a bounce back 2015 with a number of massive releases expected to do well, including Fifty Shades Of Grey, Furious 7, Avengers: Age of Ultron, Mad Max: Fury Road and Jurassic World all set to hit cinemas in the first half of the year.
Image: Getty Images.
