Cinema Growth

Cinema is booming - in Australia we enjoy one of the highest per capita cinema attendance rates in the world.

The Australian film industry has recorded the highest grossing year at the box office on record!

An impressive overall total of $946 million in 2008 is a 6% increase on the previous year results and a 4% increase on the prior highest year of 2004.

Year to date, the 2009 box office has grossed $237m - this is 9% up on the same time last year, which was the record year.

Source: www.mpdaa.org.au

As expected, the films released during 2008 lived up to lofty expectations, with The Dark Knight being the standout performer which took the honour of highest grossing film of the year.   Other great films included Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, Mama Mia!, High School Musical 3, Kung Fu Panda and the much anticipated Sex & the City movie. The great news is there were films to appeal to all types of cinema-goers, and the box office statistics stand testament to that fact! Following this trend 2009 looks certain to push the record books to even greater heights. Stephen Basil-Jones (Chairman of the Motion Picture Distributors Association of Australia) had this to say about the year ahead,

“Despite the current economic climate, history has shown that we can look forward to a very positive 2009 and another great year where people choose to escape to the movies for great value-for-money entertainment”. Cinema goers will again be tantalised in 2009 with another year of blockbuster titles to delight young and old. Look out for action-adventure blockbusters X-Men Origins: Wolverine and Terminator Salvation, comedies Year One and Ghosts of Girlfriends Past along with a smattering of animated favourites like Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs and Monsters vs Aliens. Angels and Demons will be sure to captivate cinema goers meanwhile Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince will surely cast a spell on audiences throughout Australia. Continue to watch this spot as records look set to be challenged again this year.